Shattering Hearts
by CelestiteHeart
Summary: When Maleficent opened Riku's heart to the darkness, she had her own plans for him. Now he's losing control of his darkness. Sora and Mickey try to help Riku get his darkness back under control. Will it work? Or will Riku lose something very important?
1. Chapter 1

**Shattering Hearts**

 **It's been two months since Sora and Riku came home from the Dark Beach. At first everything was normal for the teens, but is wasn't long before Riku felt something moving in the darkness. It was faint but it was moving, almost like a parasite.**

 **Riku was leaning against the paopu tree, his eyes not focusing on anything as he stared out at the ocean. His thoughts were back to his time of travels. When he betrayed Sora, helping Maleficent, letting the darkness take him. Even if no one besides the three of them knew about the darkness that he let destroy the island, it was still his greatest regret.**

 **He shook his head he just needed to let those thoughts go, they weren't going to help anyone. Yet he could feel something stirring. Something in the darkness was coming. And whatever he was feeling it was very dark.**

 **"** **Hey Riku!"**

 **Farther down the beach was Sora running to him. Riku smiled, he hardly smiled for anyone besides Sora. Well, sometimes Kairi.**

 **"** **Hey Sora, did you finally get caught up with all your school work?" Riku asked as Sora got closer.**

 **The two of them had worked tirelessly on catching up with their schooling so they would advance to the next grade. Sora nodded as he hoisted himself onto the tree.**

 **"** **Yup, it's all finally done. You would think that they would go easy on us for saving all the worlds while we were away."**

 **Riku glanced up at the spiky brunet.**

 **"** **You know they don't remember anything about the darkness and the Heartless Sora. All they know is that we suddenly left without tell anyone. Remember when you and Kairi tried to talk to Selphie about the other worlds and the Heartless? She thought you two were just making things up."**

 **"** **I know Riku. It is nice though, being back home." Sora said glancing at Riku. "To finally relax and not running from world to world fighting all sorts of Heartless. Back with everyone and messing around, we are finally able to act like normal teenagers."**

 **Riku gave a stiff nod. Sora must have not felt whatever was in the darkness. That bothered him. Something in the darkness was moving and growing and only he was feeling it. He was sure he had control over his darkness. Of course there were times when he got upset or stressed he could feel it spike. But he was quick to squash it down and put it back in check. If this continued he would have to go to the King.**

 **Sora stretched out completely laying back against the tree.**

 **"** **I still can't believe all the homework we missed. I mean how can they think that we would be able to get all that done in such little time."**

 **Riku shrugged.**

 **"** **I didn't think it was that bad, but I didn't wait to do it all at the last possible second like someone else I know."**

 **"** **Hey we still have two days left before we go back!" Sora retorted jumping down from the tree. "I could have waited till the day before!"**

 **Riku chuckled and ruffled Sora's hair. A small spark of light made Riku pull back his hand. The light had hurt him, there was even a burn on his hand. Sora's light had never hurt him before. How could it? Sora was his light!**

 **"** **Riku? Are...are you okay?" Sora asked, tilting his head.**

 **He must have not felt or seen the light. Riku nodded, this wasn't a good sign.**

 **"** **Yeah I'm fine...I gotta head home. Mom and dad are still a bit clingy since the whole adventure thing. See ya Sora!"**

 **Two months went past and no other incidences occurred. School had started and it seemed that life was going to be normal for the teens.**

 **The class Riku was currently in, Calculus, was boring him to death. If he had the choice he would still like to be exploring the worlds than be here. Here was boring at least in the other worlds he could see new things, just like he wanted to when he was a kid. The teacher's voice slowly faded away from the forefront of Riku's mind. He didn't want to be here anymore, he wanted to leave. Go and see King Mickey and some of the people of the other worlds that didn't hate him.**

 **"** ** _Leave."_**

 **Riku whipped his head around, no one was paying attention to him. No one ever talk to him in this class so he didn't think they would suddenly start now. He relaxed, must have been his imagination playing tricks on him. He ran his hand through his hair he was just stressed from going back to school. Maybe he should have taken more time off like his dad suggested. Maybe it** ** _was_** **to early to be back in the swing of things. He didn't have much more time to dwell on the fact as the bell rang. He shoved his books into his bag and headed out of the classroom before a majority of the class.**

 **The feeling he had felt before had gotten worse. Whatever this darkness was it was growing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I want to thank everyone who has read my story so far! You are all wonderful and amazing! Thank you so much again and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! Please let me know what you think and if you have any tips for me and how to improve please let me know! Thanks again!**

* * *

 **Shattering Hearts**

Riku had kept the voice a secret from Sora and Kairi the rest of the week. He wasn't even sure that he heard it himself. It could have just been the wind from an open window. Yeah someone must have been talking outside and the wind caught the voice and made it into the classroom. There was an open window that day right?  
Riku collapsed on his bed. He knew that hearing voices wasn't a good sign even for someone who's walked in darkness before. He pulled his book bag onto his bed and busied himself with the mounds of homework his teachers liked to give.

An hour had passed and not much homework had gotten done. He was feeling anxious and he couldn't figure out why. He didn't have any tests coming up, nor was it the amount of homework he had. This amount was nothing compared to what he had when they returned. The homework was forgotten as he pushed himself off of his bed.

He hadn't had the chance to work out lately so that must be why. He has been so focused with school and sedentary that his body just needed to get rid of some extra energy. So he changed into some clothes he could run in.

Descending the stairs he made his way into the kitchen to get a bottle of water as his mother walked in from the back.

"I'm going on a run, I'll be home for supper!" Riku said grabbing water and his shoes which were quickly slipped on and out the door he went.

He didn't plan on making it a long run just around his block or until his nerves calmed down. After a quick stretch he headed down the road. Sadly his run wasn't a short as he thought it was going to be. At first he ran around his block, three times and his nerves still had him on edge. Before he knew it he had ran around the entire island twice. By the time he was jogging home the stars had come out. His nerves still weren't any better by the time he was running down his street. Throughout his run Riku hadn't come to a conclusion to what had him on edge.

Lost in his thought he didn't see the person walk out in front of him and the two collided. Riku managed to stay on his feet as the other fell.

"Watch where you're going idiot!" Riku snapped before continuing on his run. That idiot should have seen him coming and gotten out of his way! He couldn't stand some of the people that were on this island. So narrow minded and ignorant to everything else that was going on outside of this small island. They should be thanking him for all he's done-.

Riku paused at his front door.

Where did all that come from? He was never that angry before. He rubbed his sore head as he walked in the house, maybe all that running wasn't a good idea.

"Riku! Where have you been!? Do you have any idea how worried we were about you!" Riku's mom said the moment he stepped foot into his house. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

His anger once more flared up as his faced his mother. Her turquoise eyes were full of worry. As her shoulder-length gray hair was tossed around. She had a bad habit of messing with her hair when she was worried.

Yet his father was staring at him with disapproval written clearly across his face. His green eyes were cold and his salt and pepper hair looked like it's had a hand run through once or twice.

"I told you I was going on a run mom! I just needed some time to think. Besides I'm more than capable of taking care of myself there was no need for you two to worry about me!" He shook his head, his chest was hurting. "I've taken care of myself before I don't need you two to do that." Riku ignored the hurt look in his mother's eyes and ran up to his room.

He reached his room and shut the door with slam. The feeling of anger was overwhelming and he couldn't understand why he was so angry. As soon as he addressed his anger it was gone. Riku looked at his clenched hands, this anger wasn't his. Never before did he consider himself an angry person. Anger was something along with his darkness he had under control. The chest pains were fading but something set heavy in his stomach. Something was wrong with him. He needed to contact the King.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to everyone who has read this story! Sorry it's been a little longer since the last update. I'm trying to figure out what is the best update schedule for this story. Also the chapters will be getting longer very soon so sorry for the short chapters!

Enjoy!

* * *

Shattering Hearts

Riku slid his book bag off his shoulder and onto the sand. It was early, school wasn't going to start for another hour but he couldn't sleep any longer. It's been almost a month since he had the fight with his mother. His anger was getting worse and he still could not find any cause for it. The chest pains he's been suddenly having are becoming more frequent. Those too he had yet to identify a cause for.

Unzipping his backpack he pulled out a bottle containing a small note inside which read.

 _Dear Mickey,_

 _I know it's been sometime since we've last talked. School is the same as are the people on this island. I find myself having less and less patience for them. I've also been having arguments with my parents more often. My anger is slowly getting out of control. I fear that since we have last met my balance has tipped towards the darkness once more. I don't think that it is my own darkness that is causing this. For sometime now I have felt something very dark luring in the darkness. I've also had incidences where I can not come in contact with Sora without it hurting me somehow. So I have kept my distance from him and also Kairi. I thought everything would be fine since I was near my light- Sora._

 _Please get back with me soon Mickey, I have a sinking feeling that something is coming and I'm at the heart of it._

 _-Riku_

Riku put the sealed bottle into the waves and watched it bob in the ocean until he could no longer see it. With a heavy sigh Riku hoped that the King could shine some light, figuratively and literally, on what was happening with him. Sora and Kairi have become much more persistent on being around him, asking why he was ignoring them. He was running out of excuses to give them and the ones he was giving them they were believing them less and less.

He turned away from the crashing waves and headed in the direction of school walking at a slow pace. It wouldn't take him long to get there and with getting up so early he had plenty of time to get there.

His parents had agreed to get him some exercising equipment to help him burning off the extra energy he had. And the silvernet was quite happy with how his body had improved. He had filled out nicely, gaining back the muscle he had lost when school had started. And it seemed that working out helped clear his mind.

When he was almost to school he heard fast approaching footsteps behind him. Slowing his pace to a crawl, he waited for the person to get closer to him before he summoned his keyblade and spun around.

Riku locked eyes with the person, his keyblade at their neck. Fear filled blue eyes locked with his.

"S-sora! I-I didn't know...I'm sorry!" He stammered out before banishing away his keyblade.

"I just heard someone running behind me and my body just moved on instinct! If I would have known it was you I wouldn't have…"

Sora released a breath he had held before shaking his head. He flashed Riku a smiled that melted his insides.

"Don't worry about it Riku, I bet if I heard someone running up behind me I would have done the same thing." He put his hands behind his head. "Besides I should have known that was a bad idea with how you've been lately."

"Yeah sorry about that...I guess it's just taken more time than I thought it would to re-adjust to being back home. I promise that everything is okay." Riku said trying to appease Sora's worrying mind. They starting walking once more towards school.

"How are you and Kairi doing? Seems like the whole school thinks that you two are finally dating." He gave Sora a small nudge. "If you two were dating you could have told me."

Sora's face was red. "We-we aren't dating! We're just friends Riku, you know that." His voice trailed off at the end.

It made Riku happy to hear from Sora that the rumors he had been hearing weren't true.

"Well I believe you Sora but you're going to have be more convincing if you want the rest of the school to believe you."

Being honest hearing those rumors made Riku's inside twist with jealousy. Sora was his light, he didn't like the idea of sharing it. Sora's face was still red by the time they reached the school. There weren't many people at school yet. Seeing that there was still forty-five minutes before school started. Riku opened the doors and let Sora walk in first before the pair headed to their lockers.

"You know I don't think you've ever been to school this early Sora. Forget something and thought you could make it here before your teacher could find out?" Riku teased as he opened his locker.

"I could say the same about you Riku. Normally your only here a few minutes before me." Sora said before also opening his locker. He enjoyed being locker neighbors with Riku.

"Couldn't sleep." Came Riku's simple reply.

Sora gave him a look over, he was worried about his friend. After all that the two went through he was just as protective of Riku as Riku is for Sora. In the first month of the two returning home they were practically inseparable. They would spend the night at eachothers houses to help with the nightmares the two had. Sora's went away quicker than Riku's since Sora never walked in the darkness for the length of time Riku did.

"Hey what are you two doing here so early?" A familiar voice said.

"Kairi!" Sora said smiling. "We should be asking you the same thing, you're never here this early either."

Kairi stood in the middle of them, Riku's chest started hurting the moment she got close to him.

"I have to make up a test I missed. My teacher should be here any minute." She look at them with a suspicious glance.

"You guys know why I am here now why are you two doing here?"

Riku shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Sora shared a quick concerned glance with Kairi. One way or another they were going to make Riku talk to them about what was going on.

" _They don_ ' _t trust you Riku."_

Riku stiffened and glanced around the hall, no one was there besides the three of them.

'Not again.' Riku thought. He had thought that hearing the voices were over.

" _It's time to leave. Come."_

Riku squeezed his eyes shut, maybe if he just ignored it the voice would leave him alone. He could feel himself breaking out into a cold sweat. And where would he even go if he did leave. That voice wasn't making any sense.

"Riku?" Came Kairi's quiet voice. "Are you okay?" She reached out and touched his arm which sparked in light. Riku pulled his arm away with a small yelp of pain. His chest was hurting even more and he was having a hard time breathing.

"Riku? You need to tell us what's wrong." Sora said.

Riku shook his head.

"I'm fine, please, just trust me." He whispered. "I'm going to head to class." He quickly turned and headed to his classroom, unaware of the glances Sora and Kairi were sharing.

Riku hoped that the King would get back with him soon. After that he didn't think that Kairi and Sora would let anything go now.

* * *

Again thank you for reading and please leave a Review!


	4. Chapter 4

So I don't know how long this chapter has been missing or how it got deleted, so sorry about that but here we go!

* * *

Almost a month.

Almost another full month which Riku had ignored Sora and Kairi. They had no experience with darkness and what it could do to you. Or what he could do to them if he lost control. They had no idea how to help him. Even if they tried he was worried about hurting them in the process.

Worse yet, he had heard nothing back from the King. There was no one left that Riku could go to. The Keyblade wielder was getting more and more discouraged that help wouldn't come. With the ways between worlds closed he had no idea how he was going to get to Mickey himself.

Riku glanced at the piles of homework that was strewed across his desk. He had none of it done. With his mind being pulled in so many different directions he couldn't focus on homework for more that five minutes. With a shake of his head he grabbed a hair tie and pulled his silver locks into a ponytail and headed into his basement where his workout machines were set up.

He always lost time when he was working out. Sometimes he would be down here for half the day, other times his parents had to drag him out of the basement so he could eat. If not the food would go untouched. He knew that his parents were concerned about him.

He heard the conversations that they had about him when they thought he was asleep. The many times his mother had cried for him. He saw it, he knew how they felt but he couldn't talk to them about this.

It wasn't long before he was all sweaty, he took off his shirt and tossed it aside before continuing to workout.

"Riku!" His mother said opening the basement door. "Sora's here, come out of there and get ready! You'll be late for school if you don't!"

Riku put down the weights he had been using, why was Sora here this early? It can't be time for school already, the last he checked it was only three. He was wrong. It was seven-fifteen in the morning. He had to be showered and dressed and out of the house in 20 minutes.

"Tell him to go to my room! I'll be up in a second!'' Riku said putting everything away. He picked up his shirt and climbed the basement stairs.

Riku practically ran through his house to get to the bathroom and showered in a record time. He ran to his room in only his towel.

"Sorry Sora, I was working out and I just lost track of time." He said getting dressed.

Riku couldn't see but Sora's face was beat red. Yes he had seen Riku without a shirt on but to see Riku come in dripping wet and only wearing a towel was a completely different story. Sora could feel how hot his face was and quickly looked away when Riku was finally dressed.

"If we hurry we'll make it-" Riku said looking at Sora, finally noticing Sora's red face.

"Um...are you okay Sora? Your face is really red are you feeling okay?"

Sora quickly nodded, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Yup! Like you said if we hurry we'll make it!" Sora said practically running down the stairs.

Riku shook his head at Sora's actions. Maybe Riku should be the one worrying about Sora

.

* * *

At School

Sora huffed in his seat as the bell rang, he and Riku had different classes in the morning.

He thought it would be a good idea to race Riku to school so he wouldn't have to talk to him about why his face was red. Little did he know just how much Riku had been working out. Riku easily beat him to school. Maybe he should ask Riku to help him work out.

"Race with Riku?" Kairi said from the seat behind Sora.

Unable to properly speak Sora nodded. He hadn't been this winded in some time.

Kairi chuckled. "You should have known that would have been a bad idea with how much he's been working out."

"I...I know. But I didn't know just how much he'd been working out. Besides how did you know? Did Riku tell you?" Sora asked.

Kairi shook her head with a smile. "It's a girl thing Sora. Every girl know he's been working out." She paused, her demeanor changing. "I'm worried that Riku might be doing too much."

Sora turned in his seat and looked at her.

"What do you mean? Riku looks better than ever."

Kairi gave him a look. "Yeah but I heard him talking to one of his teachers and it seems like he hasn't been doing his homework as of late."

Sora thought back to this morning when he was in Riku's room. There were papers scattered across Riku's desk and from what he could tell, everything looked half finished. He also didn't remember seeing Riku with his book bag when they got to school.

"Do you know how long this has been going on?" Sora asked in a small voice.

Kairi shook her head. She was frowning and that was something Kairi never did.

"But from what I hear from teachers and around school, it's been happening longer than what we think."

Before Sora could respond their teacher walked in cutting off the conversation which left a sick feeling in Sora's stomach. He turned in his seat, facing forward. He felt like something was going to happen and whatever it was it wasn't going to be good.

* * *

With Riku

He had gone through four of his classes today and in all four the teachers had demanded to see him after class. All the conversations were the same.

'Why haven't you been doing your homework?' Or. 'You aren't this type of student Riku what's going on?' Or his favorite. 'If something going on Riku you can talk to me.'

Sure he could talk to them about everything right? The voice that would keep him awake at night and telling him...lies? He could tell them about his nightmares of Heartless ripping his heart out. About that ever growing darkness he felt and saw in his nightmares…

Yeah they would understand.

He couldn't tell them anything. They would call his parents and probably recommend that he get some form of therapy. And he knew all too well how that would end up. A voice pulled him out of that dark pit.

"Riku you ready for lunch?" Sora asked, leaning against the lockers beside Riku's.

Riku felt lost. How did he get to his locker? Wasn't he just talking to one of his teachers? Did he just walk out of his classroom while his teacher was talking to him? A hand waved in front of his eye's.

"You in there Riku?"

Sora was getting scared by the vacant look in Riku's eyes. It reminded him of how Kairi looked when she lost her heart.

With a deep breath Riku nodded.

"Yeah, just spaced out for a second there." He said with a smile. "Didn't get much sleep last night. All that homework you know, kept me up late."

"Riiiight…"

Sora felt hurt. Riku had just lied to him. Again! Yet he kept his hurt quiet. He wouldn't confront Riku about. Not yet anyways.

"Any ways, ready for lunch?"

Riku nodded and shut his locker without putting anything in it or taking anything out of it. He followed Sora to the loud and crowded cafeteria.

"You go and get some food Sora...I'll find us a table."

"But what about you aren't you hungry?!" Sora pointed out, but was blown off as Riku turned and sat at their normal table.

Sora hurried through the lunch line and over to their table where he found Riku half asleep, his head in his hands. Sora's shoulders fell when he saw the dark circles around Riku's eyes. Why wouldn't Riku just talk about what was going on with him.

Sora, as quietly as possible, sat next to Riku. He took a closer look at Riku's face. He could tell what Kairi meant about him working out too much. While muscle wise Riku looked great, but the dark circles stood out against Riku's paling face. His hair looked like it hadn't been washed or properly brushed out in days.

"You know if you keep staring at me like that soon there will be rumors about us getting together." Riku said, scaring Sora. Which made Riku grin and chuckle.

Kairi pulled up a chair beside Riku and sat with a huff. She pulled her lunch out of her bookbag, noticing the lack of food in front of Riku.

"I didn't think I would ever make it out of that class without starving."

"Teach hold you after again? Let me guess he got too caught up in teaching and enriching the minds of the youth to hear the bell." Sora remarked.

Kairi nodded and pushed her apple in front of Riku who pushed it back with a 'not hungry'. Yet she persisted and pushed it back in front of him, which in turn made him push it back to her.

Kairi grabbed Riku's hand which exploded in light. Riku shouted and pulled his hand out of hers, his hand now covered in darkness.

"Alright Riku it's time to tell us what's going on with you!" Kairi demanded.

Riku shook his head, looking around to make sure that no one saw his hand. Yet everywhere he looked, eye's stared back at him.

"It has nothing to do with you two! You guys wouldn't know what to do to help me anyways! Just let me handle this!"

Kairi put her hands on her hips. Riku just prayed that Kairi would lower her voice. He really didn't need all of this extra attention right now.

"Handle it? Well it doesn't seem like you're doing a good job of it! First you stop doing your homework, then you avoid us when we want to help you. Now this!" She said, referring to the darkness that covered Riku's hand.

"I said I'd handle it!" Riku shouted at her, standing. And Kairi swore she saw Riku's eyes flash yellow before turning back to normal. Now she was scared.

"Hey don't yell at Kairi!" Sora shouted back.

Riku whipped around, looking down at Sora. Sora almost backed down from the look Riku was giving him.

"Why do you always defend her Sora! She doesn't need to know every little thing that happens to me!"

Sora stood facing Riku, where was this anger coming from?

"She's just worried about you Riku, is that so bad?" Sora said. "You don't have to make at her feel bad because of that!

Riku's shoulders fell, yet the rest of his body was tense.

"Oh so you're more worried about her than me? It's always been that way hasn't it Sora."

Sora was confused, when did he ever say that?

"No Riku that's not-"

Riku pushed past Sora, he should have known that nothing was going to change.

"Forget it. Just leave me alone."

Sora and Kairi looked at Riku's retreating figure before looking at each other and wondering what had just transpired between the three of them.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you everyone who has read this! Once again I would like to thank v.t.7 for leaving a review, they make my day trust me! And yes I already know that a character that was very out of character, you will see her once you read, but I couldn't find anyone else I liked more than her. So forgive me!  
Enjoy!

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It was the day after Riku Sora and Kairi had their argument in the lunchroom. Riku had walked to school by himself that day. Riku had tried to get his mom to let him stay home from school today but to no avail. Since he wasn't sick she saw no reason for him to miss. Many times during his walk to school he contemplated just skipping that day. But he knew the backlash that would come from that wasn't worth it.

So for the entire day he once again avoided Sora and Kairi. He ignored the strange looks he received from the students in the hallway and in class. Riku just wanted to be alone. But he could only avoid the two for so long before he had class with them.

English class was the hardest class for him that day. Even if it was the last class of the day, that was the class he had with both of them. There was no way he could get away from them then. It didn't help that they sat beside him. He could only hope that they would be doing a project or something that would allow him to get away from them.

Riku sat in his seat, head down focusing on his desk and reading the carvings in the desk. So far Sora and Kairi hadn't gotten to class yet so he had time to gather himself and brace for their questions.

He heard the door open and more kids poured in along with Sora and Kairi. He quickly shifted his eye's to his desk.

"Hey Riku." Kairi said quietly.

"Didn't see you that much today." Sora chimed in.

He knew they meant well but he could feel their eyes on him. And he knew if he looked at them he would only see pity. That was the last thing he needed.

They sat down beside him, trapping him in the middle of them. He kept his eyes on his desk.

Sora frowned looking at Kairi. Even though he couldn't see all of Riku's face, but the part he saw was so sullen. That wasn't Riku, this wasn't how he was suppose to be.

The teacher walked in, and the remaining students sat down.

"Alright I hope everyone read their chapters last night because you are going to write a three page summary on those chapters."

The students groaned around him. Yet he was happy because that meant no one was going to be able to talk.

"I know, I know. But I'll make it easy on you guys, you will be able to work in groups. Now don't ruin it, you have the rest of the class to work on the paper. Before you leave make sure to hand it in."

The students nodded, happy to work with their friends while Riku wanted to just disappear. Why couldn't things go his way for once? Now he would have to find a way to get away from Sora and Kairi.

"Alright, pick your groups and get working." The teachers said sitting down.

Riku's eyes darted around as students moved around into their groups and saw a table with hardly anyone there and darted away from Kairi and Sora to join the random group.

When he sat down the guys at the table gave him an odd look but one of them gave him a paper and pen when they saw he had nothing. He nodded to the guy and busied himself with the paper.

At first the new group worked out fine until some girl, Serah Farron was it? Started asking him questions.

"It's Riku right? We saw you and your friends over there get into some fight yesterday." She said twirling her pen.

Riku sighed, and here it goes.

"It was nothing." He said, keeping his eyes glued to his paper he was working on.

She moved closer to him, her arms under her breasts, making them more prominent. Serah grinned.

"Oh that wasn't nothing. If it was, you would be working with them right now and not with us." She glanced over at Kairi and Sora and moved more into Riku's personal space.

Riku couldn't see it but Sora was almost fuming at the sight of that girl practically laying on Riku.

Serah walked her fingers up Riku's toned arm, leaning her head towards him. She spoke in almost a whisper.

"My friends and I think it's because you're jealous. And I would be too if I was you."

Riku sighed and looked at the others at the table for help but no one met his gaze. Finally he looked at her, seeing her grin almost made him sick. He did just what she wanted.

"And just what would I be jealous of?"

Kairi glanced over at Sora and saw him staring in Riku's direction with a disgruntled look on his face.

"Sora? What is it?" She asked, following his line of sight.

That's when she saw the girl leaning on Riku, her hand wrapped around Riku's arm.

"I can't believe he's letting her do that." Sora said with a sour tone. "He's never let any girl do that to him." He looked at Kairi. "He hates that! Why is he letting her do that?"

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know Sora, Riku hasn't been acting himself lately so I don't think I can come up with an answer for this one." She put her hand over his.

"Maybe we should talk to the King...he might know what to do."

Serah giggled. "Alright act like you don't know. Fine whatever makes you feel better but,"

She glanced over at Sora and Kairi.

"I think you have that to be jealous of." She said pointed at them.

Riku rolled his eyes before looked at Kairi and Sora. The concern that he saw in Kairi's eye when she looked at Sora made his stomach twinge. And the way Sora was looking at Kairi was too much. Anger burned inside him.

"Everyone is talking about how they are so perfect together." Serah sighed. "But it seem that they are just leaving you behind."

Even though Riku was still staring at Kairi and Sora, Serah kept talking. She practically laid her breasts on him.

"I think maybe it's time you start looking for someone else too Riku. It doesn't do anyone good to be alone." Her face was so close to his he could feel her breath on his cheek.

He looked at Serah, who stared at him in shock.

"Y-you're eyes!" She said, letting go of his arm and backing away from him.

Riku blinked, what was wrong with his eyes?

She got out a mirror and faced it to him. There staring back at him were the eye's of Ansem. He grabbed the mirror out of her hands and looked closer at his eyes. This couldn't be happening.

The bell rang loudly and Riku bolted from his seat and handed in his paper before exiting the classroom his eye's glued to the floor.

Sora and Kairi watched as Riku left the classroom in a hurry. Sora swung his backpack over his shoulder as the girl, who was leaning on Riku, walked over to him as Kairi handed in their papers.

"Your friend there is quite interesting." Serah said, "I can see why you guys are friends with him."

Sora gave her a slow nod, why was she talking to him?

"Yeah we know, he's a really great guy."

Serah crossed her arms over her chest.

"I've never known someone who's eye color could change like that." She said smiling. "I wouldn't mind seeing that again."

A warning sign went off in Sora's head.

"What do you mean his eyes changed colors?"

Serah gave him a look.

"You should know he's your friend right? It was cool though, can't believe he would hide it from you. One second they were normal then the next they were this yellow-gold. I wish my eye's could do that."

Sora's heart went to his throat and he grabbed Kairi's things and pulled Kairi out of the classroom. Leaving Serah confused with his reaction.

"Sora. Sora what is it!" Kairi said as she was dragged down the hall.

"It's about Riku. That girl that was laying on Riku said something about his eye's changing colors." Sora said, bounding down the hall towards Riku's locker. But by the time they got there Riku was nowhere in sight.

"God! Why...Riku!" Sora shouted, hitting the lockers.

"Sora! Calm down! Doing this won't help Riku and whatever is happening to him." She made Sora face her.

"Look, yesterday I thought I saw Riku's eyes change colors during our little arguement. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure myself."

Sora stared at her, how did he let Riku slip this far away from him? And in such a short amount of time!

"But now after all that's happened I know I saw his eye's change. That means his darkness is getting out of control. Right now Riku needs us. And we need to stay level headed for his sake."

Kairi pulled on her book bag, squaring her shoulders and put her hands on her hips. She was radiating confidence that Sora wished he had right now. She really is a Princess of Heart.

Sora nodded, suddenly feeling childish for his actions. He watched Kairi walk away from him. At that moment he realized how much she had grown up without Riku and himself being here

.

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Once more thank you for reading. Please leave a review and let me know what you think and what you think might be going on.  
Also sorry for the late update!


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everyone! I'm glad people keep coming back and reading this story! I'm glad you are all enjoying this story, I promise soon things will start picking up! Let me know what you think and what you think might be going on and who is behind all of this.

As always I want to thank v.t.7 for always leaving me a wonderful review, you are amazing and thank you always! Thank you to everyone who has followed this story, you guys are also amazing. And to everyone who just reads this story every week, you are amazing!

Enjoy!

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It was night, Riku hadn't gone to school the whole day. He spent his day on the beach. No one bothered him, no one came close to him. Riku waited all day to see if he would finally receive something an answer from the King yet nothing had came. He was starting to feel truly alone.

Stepping closer to the water he looked down at his reflection. The sickening gold had finally left his eye's. They were one of the many reasons he hadn't gone to school today. There was no way he could get away with going to school with his eyes like that.

Riku sat in front of the water. His mind traveling back to the Dark Beach. Where he thought that Sora and him would spend the rest of their days together. He was happy then. Then Kairi's letter just _had_ to find them.

His chest suddenly felt tight. It felt like someone had grabbed his heart from the inside and was squeezing it as hard as they could. He curled in on himself, pulling his knees to his chest. All of the muscles in his body were spasming. Looking down at his chest he saw small sparks of light flying out from him.

He couldn't breath. The sounds of the waves were drowned out by the pounding in his ears.

Dark tendrils crawled over his body, covering his body in darkness. Riku could have sworn that the tendrils looked like hands. They gripped onto him hard. He couldn't move.

This was how he was going to die. Being consumed by the darkness he had yet again failed to control. All alone without anyone to help him was how it would end for him. He would die without telling Sora how he felt.  
Tears fell as he scratched at his chest. He didn't want to die.

He didn't, not without telling Sora…

" _You mean nothing to him."_

If he could talk he would have told off that voice. Sora cared about him. Sora spent all that time looking for him. He had to mean something to him.

" _Give in to me. All will be better in the end."_

He couldn't do that, not to Sora again.

The light faded and the darkness receded from his body. He was able to breath again. He gulped down as much air as he could and fell back against the sand. His body felt so heavy and he was drenched in sweat.

Something black was moving in the distance. Yellow eye's started to appear from the ground.

Heartless.

The Heartless didn't move, they only stared at him, silent and foreboding. Riku stared back, once more short of breath. How could Heartless be back on the island?

They darted away from him, but even though Riku was exhausted, the keyblade wielder sprang to his feet with his keyblade in hand.

Riku saw them running into the trees and was on them in seconds. One hid behind a tree and he swung his keyblade at it only to embed it into the tree. Riku, breathing hard, rubbed his eye's. The Heartless was gone but not because he hit it.

It was like it was never there.

Another moved deeper in the forest and Riku ran after it. Leaves and branches whipped at his face as he followed the Heartless. He leaped driving the blade into the Heartless but once again, nothing was there.

One moved behind him and took off towards the beach with Riku hot on it's tail. He saw someone standing on the beach and the Heartless was making a beeline for them.

"Hey! Get out of the way! Run!" He shouted.

The person didn't seem to hear him or the Heartless running towards them. Riku clenched his teeth and put on the extra speed. Catching up to the Heartless in no time.

Keyblade raised he brought the blade down on the Heartless as it jumped for the person. Instead of hitting the Heartless his Keyblade hit something hard and bright. For a moment Riku shut his eyes. When he opened them he saw Sora standing there blocking his attack, his own keyblade drawn.

"What was that about Riku?!" Sora shouted, his pupils blown wide in fear from Riku's attack.

Riku was speechless, mouth gaping. Sora was upset with him for saving his life!

"Why did you attack me!"

"H-Heartless! One was about to jump on you! How did you not hear it?!"

Riku said, their blades were still crossed. Both putting pressure on the other.

Sora shook his head.

"There were no Heartless Riku! I'd think I know if there were Heartless on Destiny Island."

Riku bore down on Sora with his keyblade.

"There was! I just fought some not even two minutes ago! Why can't you just believe me!"

Sora was starting to falter behind Riku's strength. He really wished that Riku would stop working out.

"Because there are no Heartless Riku! They are gone!"

Riku's eyes flicked behind Sora and there again were those yellow eyes staring at him.

"Behind you!" Riku shouted, running past Sora who almost fell forwards. Sora turned to see Riku running down the beach, chasing nothing.

Sora barely caught up to Riku and grabbed him by his bicep and forced Riku to face him. Riku fought weakly against Sora.

"Their getting away!"

Sora grabbed both of Riku's arms, his keyblade falling to the ground, twinkling away.

"Riku look at me!" Sora shouted before dropping his voice. "There are no Heartless Riku. You were running after nothing!"

Riku looked at Sora with a pleading look on his face. Sora really didn't see them.

"Sora please tell me you saw them." Riku said brokenly. "Please…tell me you saw them too...please."

Sora was gripped with sadness. Riku looked so…un-Riku. Riku was suppose to be this strong person that Sora looked up to. He was suppose to be so confident in himself. So ready to protect, that Sora couldn't help but feel safe when he was with him. He wanted to feel safe with Riku again, but the Riku that stood in front of him looked so lost. So desperate. So hurt.

Sora's throat tightened up.

"Riku I'm sorry…I didn't see them."

Riku broke then, he didn't cry, but he looked so broken. Riku's shoulders sunk, his eyes had lost all the light they had in him. It almost brought Sora to tears.

Sora hugged Riku tight.

"Let me help you." He whispered against Riku's chest.

Slowly arms were wrapped around Sora. Riku felt so heavy against him, like he could collapse at any moment.

"Okay…" Came Riku's quiet response.

"Hey I have an idea," Sora said, moving slightly away so he could look at Riku.

"Why don't you stay the night at my house! It'll be just like when we were kids!"

Riku looked at Sora's smiling face. Sora was always so happy, so full of light. Everything Riku wanted him to be. He never wanted Sora to be unhappy. Yet he had been the cause of some of Sora's unhappiness as of late.

Now his chest was hurting in a different way. This pain he didn't mind.

"Yeah...I'd like that, Sora." Riku said, a fraction of a smile was able to grace Riku's face.

Sora's smile grew wide. Progress!

Sora grabbed Riku's hand and together they walked back to Sora's house.

Riku tried to convince Sora to let him sleep on the couch but Sora wasn't having it. He told him that if they shared that same bed as kids they could still do it now. Riku had no fight left in him at that point and went along with it.

There he laid with Sora at his side.

And for once in a long time Riku was able to sleep peacefully.

* * *

As always, thank you for reading this story, I love you guys! Let me know what you think! Please leave me a review with what you think might happen! Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

So there will be an author's note at the end explaining something's.

Anyways, thank you once again for v.t.7 for always leaving me a review, you already know how awesome you are. And thank you to SoraKairiRikuNamine for also leaving me a review you are also amazing. And who knows maybe it is who you think, we will see.  
I hope you enjoy this chapter of Shattering Hearts!

* * *

Riku woke up to the sun shining in his face. His chest wasn't hurting anymore, his mind was clear. That voice had left him alone all night. And he was sure that last night was the best night of sleep he had gotten in the last two months. He felt at peace for once.

The bedroom door opened and Riku could smell food coming from somewhere in the house.

Sora walked in carrying a tray of food in with him, and Riku watched him with a small smile. That was why he had slept so good. Sora took him to his house last night and he had stayed the night.

The brunette was still unaware that Riku was awake as he heard Sora humming a slightly familiar tune.

Sora put the tray on his desk and turned around.

"Oh your up!"

Sora smiled and grabbed the tray once again and sat on the bed, sitting next to Riku when he sat up, giving Sora room.

"I got us some lunch. I know you really like that burger shack down by the beach so I ran over and got us something. I also got the lemonade we like too!"

The whole time Sora was rambling Riku couldn't help but smile. Sora was perfect, he was caring, thoughtful. And when the sun hit Sora's eyes just right, like now, they looked like an ocean and it made Riku's stomach flutter and twist.

"The lemonade guy told me that if we come by again that he would give us a free lemonade-"

Sora looked at Riku and saw him smiling sweetly at him. That made Sora smile nervously.

"What is it Riku? Why are you giving me that look?" He asked timidly.

Riku shook his head, the blankets pooling around his waist.

"Nothing, you're just being cute. Doing all this for me." Riku said reaching for the lemonade, taking a sip of it. He fought hard the urge to lean over and kiss Sora silly. Only if he knew what he did to him.

Sora's face grew hot at Riku's statement.

"W-well I mean why wouldn't I? We're best friends, Riku." Sora focused back on the food and unwrapped Riku's burger, putting it on a plate before handing it to him.

"Now you better eat all of that, or else." Sora said, trying to act tough. It only made Riku smile more.

"Or else what?" Riku challenged, leaning closer to Sora. "Just what will you do to me?"

The look Riku gave him was almost too much for Sora to handle. That look was insinuating something much different than what Sora thought.

"J-just eat your food before it gets cold!" Sora squeaked out, shoving the burger in Riku's face.

Riku chuckled but moved back, taking a bite of the burger. Man he didn't know how much he missed this food. The burger and lemonade were gone in record time.

"If you were going to be that hungry I would have gotten another one for you!" Sora said, sipping his lemonade.

"What can I say, I'm a growing boy and a growing boy needs food.'' Riku said before laying back down.

They sat in silence for sometime, Sora moved the tray off of the bed so he could get more comfortable.

"You don't have to answer this Riku but...how did you get those scratches on your chest?" Sora asked, looking everywhere but at Riku.

Riku looked down at his bare chest, um when did he take his shirt off? He didn't remember doing that last night.

"Oh uh... I guess I did that when I was on the beach when my chest…" Riku didn't finish. He didn't want to spoil the mood they had.

Silence took over the room and Riku could feel Sora fighting himself to not ask Riku what else had happened on the beach.

"I-I thought you uh...got those a different way…" Sora mumbled out, blushing again.

Riku paused a second and tried to think about what Sora was trying to get at. Then it hit him like bricks.

"Oh! You thought...you thought I got them by someone else?"

Sora hid his face in his hands, face burning red now. And Riku threw his head back laughing. He probably laughed harder now than in his whole life.

"Shut up Riku!" Sora groaned, hitting Riku. "I didn't know okay? It's not that funny!"

He really didn't mind Riku laughing at him since this was the first time he had really laughed in sometime.

Riku caught his breath, having to hold in a few chuckles before he could speak.

"Y-you thought I was with someone yesterday?" Riku shook his head. "And just who did you think I was with Sora? I mean really?"

Sora mumbled something that Riku couldn't understand.

"Huh? I didn't understand a word you said Sora?" Riku said.

Out came another mumble Riku couldn't understand.

"Come on Sora, you know I couldn't have understood that."

Sora sighed, he knew Riku was going to laugh at him again.

"I thought you were with that Serah girl from English alright. With how she acted with you the day before I just thought…" Sora said,

thoroughly embarrassed.

Riku saw how embarrassed Sora was and decided to let this one go. He shook his head and grabbed Sora's hand.

"That girl Sora, she means nothing. She was just another girl trying to get something she had _no_ chance of ever getting." Riku said. "You should know that those types of girls will never have a chance."

Sora looked at Riku and he knew he shouldn't have. The intense look Riku was giving him was almost too much and he could feel himself leaning into Riku…

"Sora! Riku's mom is on the phone and she wants to know when Riku will be coming home!" Sora's mom called from the stairs.

Sora and Riku jerked away from each other. Both were trying to read each other to see how they felt about what almost happened.

"Sora? Did you hear me?" Sora's mom called again.

Sora looked to his door before he turned back to Riku who was now laying down.

Sora really wished that Riku wasn't so good at hiding things.

"Tell her I'll be home in an hour or so." Riku said, hands behind his head.

Sora nodded. But Riku would not be getting away from him that easily. Oh no they were going to work some things out.

"Tell her that Riku will be home around nine." Sora called back to his mom.

Riku sat up again, what was Sora doing? More importantly what was his little brunette plan.

"If you think your going to get off that easily without talking about what's been happening lately, then you are sorely mistaken Riku." He pushed himself off the bed.  
"Now get up and ready because we are spending the day together and you are going to talk."

Riku silently groaned before flopping back on the bed.

"This weekend is also the start of the Paopu festival and you are taking me." Sora said.

Riku looked at Sora, "I thought Kairi talked you into taking her months ago."

"I don't think she'll mind. Besides I think she's hanging out with some of her girlfriends today. So, you're stuck with me." Sora grinned.

"I don't know Sora maybe I don't want to go," Rike smirked. "Maybe I want spend the day with Serah."

Before Riku could react Sora had grabbed the blankets he was laying on and pulled Riku to the floor. The befuddled look on Riku's face made Sora laugh, which was music to Riku. It wasn't often that Sora could pull something on Riku without him seeing through it.

"Yeah yeah, now get ready. You're taking me out tonight."

And with that Sora walts out of his room. Oh boy what did Riku get himself into.

The whole island was covered in Paopu fruit shaped decorations. Every shop had Paopu flavored and shaped food. Paopu shaped balloons were in every place you could look. Music blared around them and couples were everywhere. Carnival games were set up where you could win stuffed animals and stuffed paopu fruit toys. Small carnival rides were set up and fun houses had also been set up.

Time had flown by for the two boys, they spent the day walking around the island talking like when they were kids. The two were able to laugh freely without thinking that the other was putting on a front for the other. They went on all of the rides on that were set up around the island. And it wasn't long before Riku saw Sora staring at a giant stuffed Paopu fruit toy.

Riku grinned at the look on Sora's face. He looked like a little kid. To be heard by Sora, he leaning closer to him. "Do you want that? The paopu toy?" He asked pointing to it.

Sora looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah! But you know these games are ridged."

Riku looked the game over, it was a simple strong man game. All he had to do was make the bell ring.

Riku grinned. "Oh you're getting that giant paopu toy Sora." He said walking over to the man, leaving a shocked Sora behind him.

Sora ran to catch up with me. "Riku, you don't have too I could buy that at some store."

Riku weighed the mallet in his hands, oh yeah he was going to get the toy.

"Hey you're the one that wanted me to take you out, so I'm going to treat you right."

Riku flashed Sora a smile that made Sora's stomach flutter.

Sora crossed his arms, and tried to stop himself from smiling. Which he failed horribly to do.  
"Alright fine, but you better get it."

Riku nodded and raised the mallet above his head, before slamming it down on the petal. The puck went flying up to the bell which rung loudly.

"We have a winner!" The carne said, getting the giant toy down and handed it to Riku who handed it to Sora.

"And you doubted me." Riku said cockily.

Sora hid his face behind the giant toy.

"Shut it." Came Sora's muffled response. His face was so red and it was all Riku's fault.

The boys spent a few more hours at the festival before heading out to the beach. They sat on the sand look out at the stars. While others would look at the stars and only see them a far off planets, Riku and Sora knew differently. They had friends out there that were waiting to see them again.

Riku chewed on his bottom lip, Sora wanted to talk about what was going on and had yet to ask anything. He knew Sora too well to even think that he could have forgotten the reason they had come here.

Riku sighed and looked at Sora, who was holding the giant toy against his chest. Instead of Sora looking his age, since the toy covered the majority of his body, he looked like a kid holding the toy. Why did things have to be going wrong for them to get this close?

 _He'll leave you once this is over. He'll go back to the girl._

Riku tried not to react to the voice. This was the first time all day it had bugged him and he wasn't going to let it ruin this.

"It wasn't long after we got home that things started happening." Riku started. Sora's eyes locked with his and he almost lost the nerve he had to keep going.

"School was about to start when I felt something moving in the darkness. I didn't know what it was I thought that maybe you could feel it too...but now I know why."

Sora kept silent.

"It was my own darkness that was growing, so you wouldn't have been able to feel it. I thought it could have been from stress of coming back home and seeing everyone again. The having to dealing with the questions. Then we had the homework…"

Riku knew he was rambling, but he just couldn't keep his thoughts straight.

"Why didn't you ask us to help?" Sora asked, keeping him on track.

"Because...you and Kairi...you are both so full of light. You guys don't really know what darkness can do to you and how tempting it is. The darkness makes you feel so powerful yet you are so vulnerable at the same time. It makes you want more of that powerful feeling."

Riku took a deep breath, playing with the sand beneath his hands.

"I thought that since I've dealt with it before that I could beat it this time, but somehow it's stronger. I've been hearing things...a voice."

Riku knew that Sora was going to think he was crazy now.

"I've been hearing it for about two months now, it doesn't happen everyday but often enough."

If Sora thought he was crazy, he wasn't saying anything or he was hiding it well.

"What does it say, the voice, when it talks to you?" Sora asked. Still Riku couldn't read him and that bugged him because he could always read Sora. Anyone could, he was like a open book.

"It's trying to tell me to leave and that everything would be better off if I would listen. Give in to it, whatever it is. It also talks about you and Kairi…" Riku felt so embarrassed talking about this.

"It tells me that you guys don't care, that you both would be happier without me. That I should just fade back into the darkness."

Sora's hand clamped down over Riku's, it still hurt, but the pain wasn't as intense as before.

"You have to know that's a lie Riku! If you left I don't know what I would do without you! And if Kairi was here she would say the same thing!"

 _Would she?_

Riku stiffened, why was that voice talking so much now?

"What is it Riku?" Sora asked, tightening his grip on Riku's hand.

 _She would have him all to herself._

Suddenly Riku's mind was flooded with images of Sora and Kairi laughing together, walking together, kissing. Riku's heart pounded painfully against his chest.

 _Even in her letter she never mentioned you, only the boy, who she didn't even remember at the time. Why should she care about you?_

"It's the voice again…" Riku said, upset that he let it take over so easily.

 _Come to me Riku, I will make everything better._

Sora frowned and sat up on his knees, staring deep into Riku's eyes.

"Alright voice in Riku's head, you listen to me. You leave Riku alone, he isn't going anywhere. He's going to stay right here with me, so shut up and leave him alone if you know what's good for you."

Riku grinned. "Do you have any idea how crazy you looked when you did that?"

Sora shrugged, "Hey you're my best friend, one of us has to be the crazy one."

Riku was going to respond when a bang went off above them. Fireworks.

"Yes I hoped we'd still be here when they started!" Sora said over the loud bangs.

The two watched the show, but Riku missed a majority of it due to the fact he was watching Sora. How did he get so lucky to have Sora as a friend.

 _You won't have him for much longer_

Riku ignored the voice, this was their moment together and he wasn't going to waste it.

The streets were quiet as they walked home. A new level was built tonight between the boys, and Riku had no idea what that would mean for them.

Riku had to hold the giant stuffed paopu star toy for Sora as they walked back to his house. Sora complained that it was getting too heavy for him to carry it. And since Riku had been working out so much more it would just be easier for him to carry it. Riku didn't object to carrying it, he didn't mind.

They reached Riku's house faster than either of them wanted to. The night they had was perfect and neither of them wanted it too end. They stopped in front of Riku's house.

"Well this is my stop." Riku said.

Sora nodded. "Yeah...you know Riku I had fun tonight. I should make you take me out more often!" He said grinning.

Riku chuckled, "Well then I guess I will. I had fun too Sora. I guess I should thank you for making me take you out."

"Your welcome!" Came Sora's cheeky response.

Riku stared at Sora, he knew he shouldn't do what he was going to do but he didn't care, the mood was perfect right now.

He leant down and kissed Sora's cheek, before whispering into Sora's ear.

"Goodnight, Sora."

With that Riku turned and walked into his house. Sora stood there for a few seconds before his face lit up like a christmas tree. He didn't even feel Riku handing him the toy Riku won for him.

"Stupid Riku." He mumbled as he walked to his house with a silly grin on his face, his stomach filled with butterflies.

Yeah tonight was perfect.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Soooooooo yeah, that happened. I hope you guys aren't upset with what happened. Trust me I thought long and hard about what would happen between Sora and Riku. I was so nervous to write it but I like it. If enough of you don't I can work some things out later on, but if not then I will keep going with it. I really want to hear from you guys and how you feel about them possibly getting together. v.t.7 I hope I didn't disappoint you since you liked the sibling relationship that Sora and Riku had. I thought that I put in a pairing warning in the first few chapters but I guess I didn't. So sorry guys if you don't like them possibly getting together, let me know please, and I'll see what I can do.  
Thank you for reading and let me know what you think! 


	8. Chapter 8

Hello once again everyone! How have you all been? As usually thank you once again to v.t.7 you are amazing and that review really helped me! And thank you to everyone who keeps reading this story, you are all amazing.

Enjoy!

* * *

Sora didn't see Riku for the rest of the weekend, but he had a good feeling that things were finally going to change for the better. He felt with the progress that had been made that night that some balance had been restored to Riku's heart and slowly things were going to be worked out between the three of them.

So that Monday Sora walked to school with a pep in his step, and smile on his face. Nothing was going to get him down today.

He was at his locker when he heard a giggling beside him.

"Hey Kairi! Wonderful day isn't it?

Kairi was smiling and laughing, Sora didn't know how much better his day could get.

"So what's with the goofy grin?" Kairi asked.

Sora sighed happily and shrugged.

"Nothing, it's just a great day. I mean the weather is wonderful, homework has been easy, no real big assignments have been given. I talked to Riku about what's been going on and it looks like everything is going to be okay, how much better can it get." Sora said.

"Wait, you talked to Riku? And it went well? When?" Kairi asked, slightly shocked by the news.

"Oh at the Paopu Festival last weekend. It was really fun, you should have gone." Sora said casually getting some books out of his locker before shutting it.

Kairi blinked, well she didn't expect that answer. She caught up with Sora as he began to walk away.

"I don't think I heard you right. I thought you just said that you got Riku to go to the Paopu Festival. The same festival he said he would never go to, even with us." Kairi asked.

Sora was confused, he didn't understand what the fuss was about.  
"Yeah….why?"

Kairi shook her head. Yeah boys were oblivious to the simplist of things.

"No reason…"

Sora shrugged as they walked into their first class together. He looked at the clock, school was about to start and he had yet to see Riku.

"Did you see Riku come into school today?" Sora asked sitting down in his seat.

Kairi shook her head, sitting next to him.

"No...but I'm sure he's okay. You need to relax Sora, Riku doesn't need our continuous watch. Besides you said that you guys made progress, so I would be happy with that."

Sora nodded, he knew today was going to be a good day so he just had to stop worrying.

The day had gone by and once again he had yet to see Riku and worry twisted in his stomach. Now being in the last class of the day, English, if he didn't see Riku now he would officially freak.

There was one minute left before the late bell would ring and Riku had yet to enter. Sora's leg was bouncing up and down like crazy, a hand on his knee stopped it.

"Sora, calm now, Riku will be here." Kairi said. And the door opened just as the bell rang and in stepped Riku. He handed the teacher a note before walking to his seat. He quickly sat down and pulled out his things.

It made Sora feel better that Riku actually had his book bag with him today.

The teacher began his lesson and Sora was going to lean over to Riku when Riku said.

"I was just finishing some assignments I missed, don't worry."

Sora nodded and tried to get a closer look at Riku's face, it looked like he hadn't been sleeping again. But he didn't say anything, he trusted Riku to tell him if anything had happened to him.

Riku stayed behind to hand in some extra work he had and told Sora and Kairi to head to their lockers. He would catch up to them.

Kairi leaned against the locker next to Sora's.

"I told you that you had nothing to worry about, he was just finishing up homework."

Sora nodded, grinning sheepishly.

"I know, I should have listened to you. I guess I just don't want to take any chances."

"If Riku talked to you about what was going on then I trust him. He's going to get better Sora." Kairi said.

Kairi fished something out of her pocket. It was a small yellow crystal. She held it out in the palm of her hand.

"Besides, if we have an emergency, Mickey said to use this and he'll be here in minutes."

Sora nodded, they had things covered. Besides Riku was getting better, they wouldn't needed the crystal.

Suddenly there was a shout from down the hall. Sora and Kairi looked at each other before they sprinted down the hall towards the shouting.

They saw a bunch of kids surrounding two kids in the center. A typical fight. Being behind everyone, Sora and Kairi couldn't see who was fighting.

"What's going on?" Kairi asked a random girl.

"Riku just came out of that classroom and he got a weird look on his face and then tackled the kid and started punching him!"

The girl said.

"The guy didn't even do anything for Riku to attack him...I didn't know someone's eyes could change like that."

Sora's heart fell to his stomach and pushed passed everyone so he could see. And what he saw didn't make him feel any better.

Riku had the guy on the floor, his hand wrapped around the boy's neck, punching him. The guy was reaching for Riku, trying to push him off of him, he couldn't breath. The guy was bloody and looked like he had a broken nose and a busted lip, his left eye didn't look too good either. Blood was on both of their shirts

 **.**

Riku wasn't spotless, his lip was also busted and his nose was also bloody. A couple of his knuckles were split, but the guy he was wailing on was definitely had it worse.

What scared Sora the most was Riku's eyes were gold, and Sora feared that Ansem would soon take hold of Riku once more. He didn't know how but that was how things were looking.

"Riku!" Sora shouted over everyone.

Riku pulled back from the guy and looked at him, his eye's changing back to normal.

The guy Riku was punching took advantage of Riku being distracted and kicked Riku off of him. The boy rolled to his side, gasping for air. Bruises were visible from where Riku's hands were. Riku's attention went back to the guy. But before anymore damage could be done, two teacher broke through the crowd of kids and pulled Riku and the other boy to their feet.

"If anyone else wants a detention I suggest you stay and watch what happens, but if you don't, I would leave."

The teacher paused, waiting for the students to react.

"Now!"

The students slowly dispersed, leaving Sora to stare at Riku. He didn't know what to say. He never knew Riku was violent enough to beat up someone else.

"Come on Sora." Kairi said quietly. She grabbed his hand and tugged him away.

"S-sora!" Riku called out. He didn't know why he did, but he couldn't let Sora walk away without explaining what happened.

Sora shook his head at him, he felt so hurt by Riku's actions. He let Kairi pull him away.

Riku's heart sank, he silently cursed himself for his actions. He screwed up royally this time.

By the time Riku got out of school it was dark out. His parents were still talking to the principal and the other parents. But he had heard enough for one night. They told him that he had attacked the student for no reason, but he heard him insult Sora. He was lucky that the parents weren't going to press charges on him. Although he was told that if he pulled anything like this again, he wouldn't be so lucky.

He looked up at the night sky, he couldn't see as many stars but he could still see enough that the longing to be out there set in. Like when he was a kid, he wanted to get off this island. Away from everyone here. Riku loved his family, but his heart belonged somewhere away from here. Nothing felt right here, it never has.

"So how much trouble are you in?"

Riku looked to his right. Sora! He wanted to smile, but he felt so much shame for what he had done that is was hard to look at Sora. Sora was too good for him, too pure. Riku was too tainted for him. The darkness had too strong of a hold on him for Riku to be worthy of Sora's light.

Riku looked at his feet.

"I have two weeks worth of detention, if I'm lucky. The parents aren't pressing charges on me."

Riku could hear Sora walking closer to him. He wished Sora would have kept his distance. It would be easier on him if Sora just stayed away.

"Why won't you look at me?" Sora asked softly, coming to stand in front of Riku.

"How can you look at me, Sora?"

Riku looked up briefly at Sora before dropping his gaze once more to his feet.

"After what I did today. How are you not furious at me? Everyone else is."

"Because you're my best friend, Riku. You have to know that by now."

Riku still didn't feel any better, he felt like be betrayed Sora again. He felt slim and slightly cold fingers take his hand. Riku looked at Sora.

"How long have you been waiting out here?" Riku asked, rubbing Sora's fingers in an attempt to warm them up.

Sora smiled softly at the attempt.

"Not long, but it was worth it." He looked up at Riku. "Walk to the beach with me?"

Riku looked back as his parents walked out of the school, the principal walking out behind them along with the parents of the kid he beat up.

He looked at Sora and nodded.

"I'd like that."

Sora glanced at Riku's parents, "But your parents…"

Riku shrugged and started walking. "I don't think I can get in much more trouble than I'm already in. Come on."

Sora spared Riku's parents one more look before he followed Riku.

They sat quietly on the beach. Nothing was said, nothing needed to be said. Each boy knew what the other was thinking. Nothing had changed yet everything did change. They couldn't go on acting like it didn't. But they both sat there acting like nothing changed. And that was okay.

The moon sat high in the sky before either moved.

Riku yawned and rubbed his eye's, he was so tired. He hadn't had a good night sleep since he slept over with Sora. His nightmares had been none stop every night. And when he was awake the voice kept bothering him. It kept him so on edge that he couldn't relax. The most sleep he had gotten over the weekend was maybe an hour or two at best.

Riku laid back on the sand. Yellow eyes had been watching them all night, but he knew that they weren't real. No Heartless had made their way back on the island. He still couldn't help but watch them, making sure they didn't come any closer.

Sora watched Riku stare off in the distance. He could tell that Riku wasn't spacing out, he was watching something. Something Sora couldn't see.

"I know they aren't there Sora. But I see them every night. Outside my house, in the corner of my room. I can't sleep, even when I do they are there. In my dreams, ripping my heart out." Riku said monotony. He tore his gaze away from the Heartless, he was so tired.

"Maybe you should stay the night at my house. You know once you're not in trouble." Sora said.

Riku looked at Sora and Sora could see just how tired Riku was. The dark circles under his eye's stuck out painfully against Riku's pale skin.

"I'd like that."

* * *

Once more thank you for reading and please please pretty please leave a review. Let me know what you think and where you think that this story might be heading. I love hearing from you all! And we are getting to the end of pre-written chapters so I might have to slow down the updates to once every two weeks, but I hope not. Also I am going to a convention next week so I will probably update earlier next week. Anyways, thank you everyone!


	9. Chapter 9

Hello once again! I hope you are all doing well. v.t.7 you are wonderful as always for leaving a review! Please leave me a review and let me know what you think just who could be behind all of this.

* * *

Over the next month Riku would sneak out of his house at night and go to Sora's. The Heartless would follow him on his walk over to Sora's and back. Yet they wouldn't get close to him. No, they kept their distance from him, but they lined the streets for him. As if he was their ruler. And they, his subjects, waiting to do his bidding.

For a while, spending the night with Sora helped him sleep. The nightmares would fade away and he would have pleasant dreams. The voice would be silent, seeming to have nothing to say to him.

But as the month drew on the nightmares came back full force. Instead of only the Heartless haunting his dreams there was another figure in the background. Someone he knew, but he couldn't see them clearly enough to know who. Whenever he would get close to them, they would vanish into the darkness.

Laughing at him. Taunting him.

He was having more fights with his parents. They were still upset about his fight at school. They felt like he had changed, that he wasn't their little boy that they knew. But Riku knew that he wasn't that same person, he hadn't been for sometime.

Riku would snap at them for the smallest things, accuse them of going behind his back and saying things.

He heard his father on the phone with some "specialist" that dealt with kids. His dad told him that the specialist knew what he was going through and they would be able to help him. Sure, they knew what to do that could help him. Riku's response to that was some very colorful words to his father that got him another two weeks of being grounded.

But today Riku was lucky. His parents decided that they needed some time alone with each other. So they took a couples weekend getaway, they made it clear though that Riku was not to leave the house or have anyone over.

Sure, like Riku was going to listen to that rule.

The night Riku's parents left he called Sora and asked if he would like to spend the weekend over at his house. Which Sora quickly agreed to.

It was early morning and Riku hadn't slept all night. The nightmares were too real, and they were starting to involve Sora being hurt.

In those nightmares Riku would be facing large swarms of Heartless of every kind. He would be able to hold them off for a while but everytime he would be overpowered by them and fall. Then from somewhere in the darkness Sora would appear.

Sometimes Sora would fight off the Heartless and get them both out of their, but in the majority of his dreams Sora would end up bruised and bloody. Riku would be unable to move, pinned to the ground by the mass of Heartless. Darkness would trap Sora in one spot and the Heartless would swarm on Sora.

Riku could never watch at that part. It felt too real. He would try so hard to wake up so he wouldn't have to listen to Sora's screams as the Heartless would beat him.

The dream would always end the same way. Riku would be forced to look as Sora's cries ended and a twinkling heart would rise into the sky.

Riku couldn't take those dreams anymore, so he made the choice to not sleep. He started drinking black coffee to stay awake, or the best he could, in class. Some days he could pull it off and not sleep. Others he would fall asleep and be pulled into that nightmare.

The worst was when he would fall asleep in class and have those nightmares. His teachers would ask him questions, the other students would question him, as would Sora and Kairi. But they would be the last ones to know about his nightmares. He would do anything in his power to made sure that Sora would never find out.

This night into morning was bad. He would constantly fall asleep and wake up in a panic due to the nightmares. Riku was exhausted. Every few minutes he would catch himself starting to fall asleep so he would do some exercises to keep himself awake. It would never last, he would end up falling asleep.

Riku rubbed his face, then looked at his clock, it was 7:20. Sora should be here in 10 minutes. He didn't need to worry about a shower or getting ready, he did that three hours ago. Riku stretched out on his bed, he knew he shouldn't but what would taking a 10 minute nap hurt.

It wasn't like he would sleep anyways.

He was wrong.

Riku slept and dreamt. This dream was different. He was floating in a soft white room. There were no Heartless, there was no fighting. Riku only felt safe and warm. Nothing could harm him wherever he was.

 _Riku…_

A women? He felt like he knew this voice. Like someone he met when he was little.

 _You have grown so much since we have last met. Let me help you child._

Riku wanted to listen to this voice, it wasn't like the other one. This one was soft and caring. He trusted this one. Riku couldn't understand why he trusted this women but he did.

 _You have fought so hard, Riku_

Yeah he had. Riku was fighting this Darkness with all he had. He wasn't going to give up.

 _You need to rest. It will do you no good to keep doing this to yourself. You can't win this way._

Riku understood that. But there was nothing else he could do, there was no one else that could help him.

 _Would you like me to help you Riku?_

Riku didn't know what this voice could do to help him. It was just a voice from a dream, what real help could it provide?

 _All you need to do is let me in, dear boy. I will help you. I promise._

This was just a dream right? If this voice could help him he would be stupid to not let it.

"Alright, do what you wish." Riku said.

Riku felt himself rising up towards this voice. He felt so safe. So warm. He could feel himself falling asleep.

Then the world went black. Something was wrong, then he was falling. Falling into Darkness, he felt so cold. Where had that nice voice gone?

 _Foolish boy! You have come this far and you still understand nothing!_

Out in the real world, Riku stood against his will. His body trembled as he tried to fight against the Darkness. Riku felt the darkness crawling on him. The cold that accompanied the Darkness made him shiver.

Yet he felt so powerful, like he could take on anything. He remembered this feeling, he remembered how much he could do with the Darkness by his side. He had so much power when he wielded the Darkness. Riku's chest tightened again, but the darkness clouded his mind.

 _Yes...come to me. Give into me. Lose yourself to the Darkness._

Riku knew he should be fighting the darkness but he felt so good. He wasn't in anymore pain, he felt safe. More importantly, he wanted to rest. Forever

.

Someone laughed behind him, and he felt a hand slid onto his shoulder.

 _Open the door Riku. Let me in._

Riku struggled weakly against the voice, he felt his clothes changing form. The Dark Mode outfit was replacing his normal clothes.

"N-no..."

 _Open the door. Now._

Riku shook his head, shutting his eyes tight. This wasn't right. He needed to fight. He _had_ to. But the darkness has a death grip on him.

Against Riku's will, his hand raised out in front of him. He opened his eye's and saw a dark corridor was slowly forming.

 _Yes. Yes!_

"...No!"

Riku could see something in the depths moving and twisting. It was trying to come through the door. When he saw the creature he suddenly got the strong urge to sleep, to fall into the darkness.

 _Sleep child, you've done your part. Sleep. Rest and forget everything._

"C-can't….not….right…"

Riku felt his eyes sliding shut and he fought to stay awake. He couldn't let whatever was coming out of the Dark Corridor through. A dark hase was filling his mind.

Sora knocked lightly on Riku's door. He thought he heard Riku talking to someone. But he could only hear Riku.

"Riku? It's me, Sora. Can I come in?"

Riku looked to the door. Sora...Sora was important to him, right? All the while the creature was getting closer.

 _You are so tired boy, rest. I will handle everything. Close your eyes._

He wanted to listen to that voice so desperately, he hadn't slept in so long. He couldn't take it anymore, he wanted to sleep.

"S-sora?"

Sora smiled from behind the door. "Yeah it's me. Is it alright if I come in?"

Sora was getting worried. Something didn't feel right. He knocked again when he didn't get an answer.

"Riku. Are you okay?"

A hand came over Riku's eyes. The creature was starting to take a human form, any moment it would be able to step into their world.

Whatever plans it had for their world it would be able to unleash them in mere moments.

 _Sleep. Once I am done you will remember nothing. You will be made new._

Riku shook his head weakly, his whole body felt like it was made of cement. Sleep called to him.

"Sora!"

Riku started to struggle more forcefully.

"Sora!"

When Sora heard Riku call out his name he forced the door open and saw Riku completely covered in Darkness. Riku's normal clothes were gone, they were replaced by Riku's Dark Mode outfit. He then saw the Dark Corridor and the person trying to step out of it.

Sora saw Riku was struggling against the darkness and trying to close the corridor. Sora summoned his Keyblade he ran to the creature and slashed at it. Forcing it back as it let out an inhuman shriek.

Something that scared Sora was when the creature screamed, so did Riku. Every hit that Sora landed on the creature made Riku scream. Sora tried to ignore Riku's pained cries as he tried to kill the creature. But when he saw that his hits weren't doing much he ran to Riku.

He tried to pry Riku out of the darkness, but the hold it had on Riku was too strong. Sora glance behind him at the portal and the creature was making its way back out. Breathing short, Sora did the only other thing he could think of doing.

And if it worked for him and Kairi, he prayed that it would work for him and Riku.

He hugged Riku tight.

"Riku, come back. Get out of the darkness. You don't need it. You're stronger than it." Sora pleaded. He could feel the darkness trying to ensnare him.

"Come back to me Riku! It's me Sora! You need to look at me. Look at me with your heart."

Riku was slightly confused at this new voice, he knew it, but it was trying to keep him from sleeping.

"If I could see you through your darkness, I KNOW you can see me!" Sora cried, holding Riku tight. He was trying to ignore the coldness of the Darkness.

The dark creature...or human? Was starting to get free from the portal, but was struggling.

Look at this person with his heart? He could barely feel his, but he would try. He concentrated on the person holding him tight. It was hard trying to see through all the darkness.

It was so inviting, he wanted to-NO. He had to focus on the person that was clinging onto him. They were...important to him.

Slowly the veil of darkness was starting to lift. He could make out brown hair, brown spiky hair. He felt the need to brush his hands through the spikes.

Riku concentrated harder on the person, he was getting even more tired doing this. It would be so easy to just give up. He would be able to sleep. Forever.

"Riku...please. Don't leave me again. I don't think I could handle it if you do." Sora said weakly, his voice trembling. Riku swore he felt tears fall onto his chest.

He saw that the person was tan, like the sun personally came down and kissed the person's skin. So perfect. So smooth. The boy's skin was soft...oh it was a boy.

Sora's tears flowed freely as he felt the creature's darkness ooze out and get closer to him. He was going to lose Riku.

The brunette didn't see that his tears slowly eating away at the darkness that covered Riku. He looked up at Riku, who's eye's were still covered. He wanted to see Riku's eyes once more. Before the darkness took them both.

"Look at me Riku." Sora whispered. "Please."

The tears were shining brightly against Riku's chest as they burned away the darkness that covered it.

Suddenly Riku could see the boy clearly, Sora. Sora was clutching him tightly, and he was crying. Why was Sora crying? He shouldn't be crying!

Riku opened his eye's when he heard Sora whimper, he saw a dark and oozing hand reaching out for Sora.

"No!" Riku shouted and the creature paused. Sora would never be touched by that thing. He didn't know what it was but Sora wouldn't be touched by it.

The Darkness around Riku and Sora started to recede.

Riku looked straight at the creature's eyes, or where he guessed it's eye's would be. There were only gaping black sockets where the eyes should be.

"You will never touch him. You will never bring any harm to Sora. You filthy creature." Riku spat out.

With every word that Riku spoke seem to wound the creature, since every time Riku spoke it flinched. It also seemed to be shrinking, crawling back to the also shrinking portal.

"Go back to the Darkness, I don't need you. Don't you dare show your face to me again or I will kill you."

The creature was limping back into the portal now. The darkness that encased Riku was gone. He was back in control.

"Fade. Fade into the darkness." Riku said before raising his hand once more and shut the Dark Corridor, trapping the creature in the darkness once more.

Sora, who was quiet throughout the whole conversation stared up at Riku, eye's wide with what, Riku didn't know. His arms wrapped around Sora.

"I saw you." Riku said, giving Sora a tired smile. "You brought me back."

Sora took a deep breath. He didn't realise he was holding his breath through the whole thing.

"N-no problem. Anything for you." Sora smiled, his own arm around Riku's neck. He felt Riku shivering against him. Riku was freezing!

"You're freezing Riku! Come on, you need to get wrapped up!" Sora exclaimed, trying to move Riku to the bed.

"Are you okay? Nothing hurt you?" Riku asked, looking over Sora for any harm. He completely ignored what Sora had said. He wanted to make sure Sora was okay first.

Sora shook his head.

"No, I'm okay. You made sure of that. But you need to get warm!"

Riku smiled before collapsing onto Sora who was barely able to hold him.

"Riku!? Riku are you okay?" Sora asked quickly and fearfully.

Riku groaned before nodding. Sora moved Riku to his bed and laid him out on it. Sora pulled the covers up over Riku, making sure to stay by Riku's side of course.

"I guess that took more out of me than I thought." Riku confessed, short of breath. Riku teeth chattered as he spoke.

"Rest Riku, please. I'll be right here. Nothing will happen." Sora said, laying next to him.

Riku smiled softly, Sora was too good to him.

"Alright, but only because you are here." Riku said before shutting his eye's. He was more willing to sleep when Sora told him to than that voice.

Sora stayed with Riku the rest of the day and night. He pulled out his cell phone and called Kairi.

"Hey Sora, what's up?" Kairi said cheerfully.

"Kairi write another letter to the King it's an emergency." Sora replayed solemnly. "Something almost came through a dark corridor. And Riku almost lost himself to the darkness. I'll go into more detail later. But you need to send that letter now."

He heard Kairi scrambling around her room before frantic writing could be heard.

"Alright Sora, I got the letter. I'm heading out now to send it."

"Kairi do you have the Crystal thing the King sent us?" Sora asked quickly.

"Yeah he said that it would send whatever letter to him directly and we wouldn't have to wait." Kairi said.

"Use it for that letter, we don't have any time to waste we need to get Riku to the King as soon as we can." Sora looked over at Riku. He saw a lock of hair moved on to Riku's face. Sora moved it out of Riku's face and tucked it behind his ear.

Riku hummed slightly. He rolled onto his side, moving closer to Sora, Riku put an arm around Sora's waist.

Kairi was quiet for a moment.

"Sora...do you think we're going to lose Riku?"

Sora's chest tightened at the thought. He could never lose Riku.

"The King will help. He knows what to do. Just get that letter to him." With that Sora hung up and curled closer to Riku, his head in line with Riku's.

Sora touched Riku's cheek, he wasn't as cold as he was before, but Sora wasn't happy with the temperature and put his own arm around Riku.

He wasn't going to lose Riku. Not now. Not ever.

* * *

Sooooo that happened. Who do you think was the creature coming out of the Corridor? Let me know with a review! Thank you all for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry for the late update, I'm in a summer college now and I have to do so much work because my instructors are...not the best. So I will probably be updating late often, depending on how much writing I can get done. This chapter was going to be longer but I didn't have the time to write. So sorry about that. And thank you to v.t.7. for the lovely review, you are amazing. And thank you to everyone who is reading this. You all make my day!  
Enjoy!

* * *

Riku slept soundly for the rest of the day, so Sora decided to head out to meet Kairi.

Sora sat heavy on a park bench, while Riku slept soundly, he had a hard time sleeping last night. That creature plagued his dreams. Whatever that was, it came from Riku. There was no other way to explain why whenever Sora struck it, Riku would scream, as if Sora was the one hitting him.

Someone sat beside him.  
"I thought you said Riku was the one that had a bad night."

Sora smiled softly, good old Kairi. She would always make him feel better.

"I didn't think I looked that bad. But I guess I was wrong." Sora said, leaning back against the bench. Sora was getting tired of being wrong about things.

He looked at Kairi, she didn't look much better than he did. Looks like none of them had a good night.

Kairi pulled something out of her pocket.

"This is what the King sent me…"

Kairi handed Sora the small note. Sora could tell it was written in a hurry. Instead of the King's perfect handwriting, this was slightly sloppy and uneven.

The note read;

 _I will be arriving during the afternoon, get ready to leave in a moments notice. I will check Riku over when I get there. Meet me at the beach._

 _-Mickey_

Sora quickly checked the time, 10:58. The King would be arriving shortly. He rubbed his face, this was getting serious. And if they had to leave again, what would he tell his family, what would he tell Riku's parents?

Kairi put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She knew what he was thinking.

"Lets just see what the King has to say before we think about leaving. Maybe he can do something for Riku here and you guys wouldn't have to leave again."

Sora looked at her and nodded. He smiled and stood up from the bench and stood in front of Kairi.

"Well then Princess, I think we have a King to greet. And I don't think we want to be late and make him upset."

Sora offered his arm to Kairi.

Kairi laughed but nodded and stood.

"I believe you are right, my knight." She said, taking his arm. "Lead the way for your Princess!"

Sora laughed and together they headed to the beach and waited for their King.

Sora and Kairi were talking when a bright light flashed in front of them. A Corridor of Light formed in front of them. The two stared in awe of what they saw. They knew about the Dark Corridors but neither thought that a Light Corridor could be made.

Out stepped Mickey.

"Well hiya guys!" He said smiling, the Corridor of Light fading behind him.

"Mickey! It's wonderful to see you again!" Sora said going over to him. Kairi followed.

"And you too Sora! It's also nice to see you again Princess!" Mickey replied.

Mickey looked around the area.

"Where is Riku? I thought he would also be here. You three haven't had a falling out would you?"

Sora and Kairi shook their heads. So far they had been able to mend the rifts between them.

"Sora told me that Riku was still sleeping when he left, and we thought he could use a few more hours of sleep." Kairi said.

Mickey nodded.

"Understandable, but I do believe that time is of the essence in his case."

"Well let's get going, I think it is time for me to visit Riku and see how he is." Mickey said, and the three hurried to Riku's house.

Sora opened the door for Mickey and Kairi and shut it behind them.

"Riku's parents went out on a couples getaway for the week. So we won't have to worry about them coming back for a while." Sora said, leading them to Riku's room.

"Riku will be so happy to see you Mickey, and to know that you could help him,"

Sora moved to open Riku's bedroom door when Micky stopped him.

"What is is? Is something wrong?"

Kairi looked at Mickey with a knowing look.

"There's a chance that you can't help him, isn't there."

Mickey nodded, his shoulder sagged, as if the weight of the world was suddenly put on them.

"I'm going to be honest with you guys...people like Riku, they have a chance of not getting better." Mickey confessed. His voice lost of the cheer and happiness it always held.

"What do you mean? I thought-" Sora began. He thought the King was able to help them.

"What do you mean 'people like Riku'?" Kairi asked, effectively cutting off Sora. "Has there been others like Riku."

Mickey smirked at Kairi, she was always so observant.

"You are really a sharp one Kairi. But yes, I have seen others like him and they need to be willing to get help for anything to work."

Sora squared off his shoulders, he knew Riku wanted to get help. There was nothing they had to worry about.

"Well Riku does want help, he isn't like the others. You'll see." He confidently, before opened the door.

Riku didn't wake up as they all moved into the room. Even from a distance Mickey could see how much Riku has changed. He could feel Riku's darkness from across the room.

Sora went to Riku and gently shook him.

"Hey Riku," He said softly. "I have a surprise for you."

Slowly Riku came out of his sleep and opened his eye's. He was still so tired, but for Sora, he'd push through it. Riku rubbed his eye's.  
"What is it Sora, I would really like to go back to sleep."

Sora was blocking the others from view.

"You can, but I think someone wants to see you."

Riku stared at him for a moment before looking around Sora. The King smiled at him. Riku looked back at Sora.

"Why is _he_ here?" Riku whispered harshly.

Sora was stunned by Riku's response. He thought Riku would be happy to see the King again.

"H-he's here to help Riku. We asked him to come and help you."

Riku fell back onto the bed with a heavy sigh. So the King came when the others asked, but not when he did.

"Riku?" Sora asked.

Riku nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position, swinging his legs off his bed. He knew he didn't look the best, but that was the others fault for not letting him know that the King was coming.

Sora nodded to the King and stepped out of the way as the King approached.

Mickey was silent as he looked over Riku, studying him.

A tense air filled the room. Sora and Kairi looked at each other, this wasn't at all how they thought it would go.

"You've changed, my boy." Mickey said, after a few tense moments.

Riku nodded.  
"I know."

Mickey shook his head.  
"Your darkness has grown to a dangerous level Riku. I thought you had it under control."

The silvernet shrugged. Maybe if the King had answered his previous letter he wouldn't have gotten this bad.

"I am here to help you, if you will let me." Mickey offered. He knew better than to push someone who was in this state.

Riku looked over at Sora who was silently pleading with him to listen to the King. He gave into Sora's stare and nodded.

The King smiled and took a few steps back.

"Now, I want you to make a Dark Corridor."

"I-I don't think that would be a good idea Mickey…" Sora said hesitantly. He really didn't want to see that...thing...again.

"Everything will be fine Sora, I understand you concern but the Corridor will not be open for long." Mickey said, nodding to Riku. "Go ahead, Riku."

Riku didn't want to do this, oh he _really_ didn't want to do this. He knew want Mickey was trying to prove or disprove. Riku held his hand out and looked away.

He could feel the Corridor forming, he could feel the darkness bending to his will. It wasn't long before it was fully formed.

Mickey walked over to it, and checked it over. Nodding every so often. He even stuck his head into at one point.

"Alright you can close it. I've seen all I need to see."

Mickey said, stepping away from the portal.

With a nod, Riku closed the portal.

"Well it looks like a fully formed Corridor, but it isn't a fully complete Corridor." Mickey said, looking more relaxed than he did a few minutes ago.

"How do you know that it isn't fully complete?" Kairi asked.

Mickey put his arms behind his back and begun to pace.

"My only experience is from the Corridors of Light. But when one makes a Corridor of Light, even if they have no destination in mind, the Corridor will open somewhere."

Mickey said, looking at the three.

"When Riku opened the Corridor there was no other opening. No other world opened to him, which is good."

"Then where did that thing come from? If it didn't come from another world, then where did it come from?" Riku asked.

Mickey sighed and frowned. That part is what was bothering him. There were two theories he had, and he hoped it was the first one.

"It must have come from the darkness itself, like the Heartless. None of us have looked into the Darkness since you both returned, so there could be a new form of Heartless."

Sora shook his head, it couldn't be a new form. It didn't feel like a Heartless.

"I don't think it was a Heartless. With all of the Heartless I have fought, none of them looked like a human."

"But if it is a new form we don't know what they could or couldn't look like, Sora." Kairi spoke up.

Once more Sora shook his head.

"Alright it's going to sound odd but, Heartless have a certain feel to them. Like little balls of darkness, but not that thing."

Sora paused, trying to find the right words.

"Whatever that was, it felt worse then the Heartless. It felt like pure evil."

Mickey looked over Riku as Sora spoke. He was tense, almost fidgety. Something wasn't being told about the creature that came through the Corridor.

"Sora, since you were the one to attack that creature, and you say that it felt different, did it do anything that a normal heartless wouldn't do?" Mickey asked.

Sora glanced over at Riku, he didn't know all of what Riku remembered from yesterday.

"W-well...when I attacked it with my keyblade, it screamed.."

Mickey nodded, that was certainly odd, but if it was a higher form, things like this could happen.

"But so did Riku...it was like when I hurt it, I was hurting Riku."

Riku felt his stomach drop, he didn't remember that. He didn't remember any of that.

"That is very concerning. With that new information Sora, I do believe that you are right." Mickey said. "That thing was not a new form of Heartless."

"Then what was it?" Riku said after some silence had passed.

"I don't know, but I want you all to come back to Disney Castle with me."

Things after that moved in a flurry of activity. Plans about what to tell their parents had been made. What would happen when they would get to Disney Castle. What would be expected of them when they got there.

But it all passed Riku by. His body felt as heavy as lead, all this new information beared down on his mind. Whatever that creature was had to have come from him. There was no other way to explain the connection the two shared. That thing was a manifestation of his darkness.

"You know Riku, you'll have to change your clothes eventually. I don't think you want to wear the same clothes you wore last night."

Kairi said as she stood in front of him. She gave him a reassuring smiling.

"You will get better Riku, you are in the best hands as possible. And you will have your friends with you during the entire process."

Riku nodded, "Yeah...I know."

Kairi grabbed his hand, but pulled away when sparks flew. Riku pulled his hands his chest.

"I'm so sorry Riku! I forgot that…" Kairi started, and reached for him again, but pulled her hands back. She didn't know how to comfort him.

Riku shook his head and gave her a small smile.

"It's okay Kairi, really. It's just something we will have to get used to."

Kairi nodded, but she was still upset that she had hurt Riku.

Riku sighed and stood up.  
"Kairi, I'm not hurt. See." He said holding his hands up. No marks could be seen on his hands.

"Now go and get ready, I don't think Mickey will want to wait."

"Alright Riku." Kairi said, she moved to hug him but stopped. "Right, that would hurt. Well...um...I'll see you on the beach!"

And with a small wave she was out of his room, leaving him alone.

Riku looked around his room. He had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't see it for some time.

About an hour after everyone left Riku's house, they were all standing at the beach, luggage packed and families informed.

Mickey stood in front of the three.

"Now we will travel through the Light Corridor and will appear on Disney Castle."

He shifted his gaze to Riku.  
"I know that this might be painful for you, so we will all need to move quickly. We don't know how that much light will affect you. Do you understand?"

Riku responded with a small nod.

"If you need to, Riku, grab onto one of us and we will help you through." Mickey finished.

With Riku's nod of confirmation he turned and held out his hand. The Corridor of Light shined into existence.

Riku's body immediately started to react, his breathing got short, and he broke out into a cold sweat. Something inside him was telling him to run. Yet he kept his problems to himself. There was no way he was getting out of this now.

Mickey glance back at the group.

"Alright everyone, let's go!" Mickey walked into the Corridor and disappeared. Kairi followed behind him, and Sora behind her. Riku braced himself and stepped into the light.

Immediately after he stepped into the Light, Riku's body seized up. He couldn't take another step. Pain wracked his body, and he could see the others getting farther away from him.

Sora turned back and saw Riku in pain and hurried back to him.  
"Let me help you Riku." He said before putting Riku's arm around his shoulder, sharing Riku's weight.

The two were about halfway through when even holding onto Sora was too painful.

"I think I can walk the rest of the way…" Riku said through gritted teeth.

Sora hesitantly let go of Riku. He wasn't sure that Riku could handle the rest of the walk, but he trusted him.

The others waited for them as they walked out of the Corridor.

The trio was greeted by the glorious Disney Castle. It towered above them in all it's glory, with all of it's towers and halls. Its garden and lawns were a green as green could be. The gardens were well maintain, keeping the flowers beautiful which scented the air.

From somewhere in the distance, music could be heard.

"Welcome to Disney Castle everyone!" Mickey said, a wide smile set on his face

 **.**


	11. Chapter 11

Hello again everyone. So it looks like until I am done with this college class I will probably be updating this story on Sundays. Blame my teachers for not knowing how to teach. Chapters might be shorter for a little bit, but I will not put this story on a hiatus. No. I'm having to much fun writing it.  
As usual, thank you to v.t.7. for always reviewing my story, you are wonderful!  
Enjoy!

* * *

"Everything is just as amazing as I remember!" Sora exclaimed walking closer to the castle. The others followed behind him. Guards opened the large doors for them, displaying the large and elegantly decorated hall inside.

Kairi looked on in awe of such a grand building, while Riku hung around the back of the group. Something had him on edge.

"Alright before everyone gets settled in and we get down to business, I think it would be a good idea to show you all around the castle. I don't think anyone wants to get lost."

Mickey took the lead of the group and showed everyone around the castle. Winding halls and passages ways were as extravagant as the last they walked through. The large halls held everyone's attention as they walked.

The King would stop and explain some paintings of old kings and queens. Other paintings were of old keyblade masters and wielders.

Riku paused for a moment when he saw a picture of a blue-haired keyblade master. He felt like he had seen her before, but he couldn't place where.

Other rooms held artifacts from other worlds and from different time periods. Mickey also showed Kairi some pieces from her home world. At the end of the tour, the King showed everyone to their own spacious rooms. The trio had no idea how they were going to take up all of the room their new rooms offered.

They ended up back in the Grand Hall, where Queen Minnie was waiting for them.

"Sora, you know my lovely wife. Everyone this is the Queen. Queen Minnie." Mickey said, as Minne walked over to them.

"Hello everyone. It's so nice to see all of Sora's and Mickey's friends." Minnie said with a soft smile. "Mickey has spoken in lenght about you all."

Minnie walked up to Kairi.  
"If you wouldn't mind too much deary I would love to have a talk with you. I have never been able to talk to a Princess of Light before. I have many questions."

Kairi nodded and smiled.

"I would love that Queen Minnie. Maybe I can help clear up your questions. And maybe you can answer some of mine."

The Queen looked at Mickey and the boys.

"We will be in the study if you need us."

And with that Kairi was swept away by the Queen.

Mickey looked at Sora and Riku, a serious look came over his face.

"There is another room I wish for you both to see. It will be dealing with Riku's treatment."

Riku felt sick, he was really starting to regret coming here now. It was rare to see the King so serious, so when he was, it was concerning to him.

They made their way up to one of the far towers. This one seemed to be the highest one. They could hear something humming around them as they ascended up the stairs.

Light orbs lit their way as they climbed, nothing made of darkness would be able to last in this stairway.

About half way through their climb Riku had to stop walking. He couldn't get in a full breath, his chest was hurting too much. Riku leaned against the wall, he could feel the darkness calling to him. That sick voice again was calling to him. Tempting him to use it's darkness to get through this climb.

"Riku?" Sora questioned, halting his climb. Mickey looked back also.

Riku shook his head, he was breathing hard. It felt like a cinderblock was on his chest.

"I-I just need a minute. I'll be fine."

He concentrated on the light in his heart, fighting to get the darkness back in control. After a few minutes and some calming breaths, the darkness receded.

Riku nodded and continued the climb.

The trio finally made it to the top of the tower after about another two minutes of climbing. With the tower being at such a great height, you could look out and see all of the castle grounds. The training field, the gardens, the small hedge maze. Everything. You could also see miles beyond the castle ground. It was beautiful.

Sora pulled Riku over to one of the large windows.

"This view is amazing! Look, there's a creek over there!" Sora said in wonder. "Look at the gardens! You can see everything from up here!"

Riku nodded. He did have to admit, this was a nice view. But he didn't know how he would be able to make this climb everyday for his treatment. His body was in so much pain, just standing still took all of his concentration.

Mickey cleared his throat, gaining both of their attention. He stood in front of a old wooden door.

"It took all of my best engineers and mages to get this room complete in such short time. But this is where Riku's light treatments will be taking place."

"Light treatments?" Riku asked, he didn't like the sound of that.

Mickey nodded and opened the door and stepped into the room.

The room was small, but comfortable looking. There was a bed at the far front wall.

Mickey flicked on a switch, and the humming they heard earlier in the climb grew louder.

Orbs of twinkling lights appeared, floated above the bed. They lighted up the whole room. There was a small writing desk next to the window, and a small dresser. Other small things were scattered about the room to make it homey.

"Those orbs," Mickey said pointing to the floating light orbs, "They are made of pure light. Which is generated by the Cornerstone of Light, which I will show you later. The flecks of light will be able to sink through your skin and into your heart. There the light will help maintain balance and fight off the darkness."

Sora made a sour face.

"That sounds like it'll hurt...will it…?"

Mickey sighed, and looked at Riku. With all he had seen so far, he didn't think there was a "pain free" option for Riku anymore.

"Yes, it could be painful. But sadly, there are no other options Riku has." Mickey crossed his arms. "His imbalance is too great, this is the only method."

So far during this whole trip, no one had asked him once if this was something he wanted to do. But the others had yet to notice his agitation.

"Maybe Yin Sid could give us some advice." Sora suggests. "He might have some other answers."

Mickey shook his head.

"He was the first person I consulted with Sora. He was at a lost of what to do also."

" _They will never listen to you, Riku."_

Riku twitched at the voice, he was tired of having that voice in his head. The others once again didn't see his distress as they continued their conversation.

" _Do you really want to go through with this painful treatment? I have asked you, but they haven't."_

Riku clinched his teeth and shut his eye's. He just needed to focus on his light and the voice would go away.

" _Do they really care about your opinion?"_

Riku just wanted that voice to shut up! He was tired of it messing with his head! If it was Ansem again, he was going to make sure that Ansem was never going to talk again!

" _You will never get rid of me, boy. These treatments won't work against me. I am part of you! What part of that do you not understand?"_

"And if I decide that I don't want to go through the light treatments?" Riku asked, his anger finally exploding.

He was still tired and all he wanted to do was sleep, he didn't want to deal with any of this right now.

" _Ha ha ha, you will lose boy. Just like before."_

Not once was he asked if he wanted to go through these light treatments. Yes he agreed that he would let Mickey help him, but he didn't agree to any form of treatments yet.

Mickey and Sora went quiet, shocked by Riku's claim.

"What do you mean Riku!?" Sora exclaimed. "This is how you will get-"

"No Sora, he is right. He has the option to not go through with this treatment."

Mickey had a feeling this was going to happen. Riku was so far into darkness that his mind was bound to get warped.

"Riku. If you do not go through with this you will be consumed by your darkness and lose yourself." Mickey said.

"If you decide to not go through with this, I will open Kingdom Hearts and let you walk into the darkness once more. It would be a better place for you to be when your darkness takes over."

Sora shook his head. "B-but we won't have to do that because Riku's going through with the treatments."

Riku remained silent. Something deep inside of him was yearning to get back to the darkness. He knew he shouldn't listen to it, but the feeling was too strong.

Sora's heart dropped when Riku was silent for so long. He was actually considering giving up!

Sora grabbed Riku's arm, but pulled back when sparks once again flew.

Riku held his arms and took a few calming breaths. His anger was getting the best of him again.

"Riku?" Sora asked hesitantly. Concern was written painfully across his face.

"I'm fine." Riku said tightly.

"Let's say I go through with these treatments...when would they start?"

Mickey was worried over the boys. But he could only do what he could for them.

"I would like to start them as soon as we can. It would be even better if we would start today. I don't think it would be safe for you to go on much longer like this."

Riku rubbed his temples, his head was pounding. So he just got here and he was already expected to undergo these treatments.

"Look, I know you both want me to get these treatments going as soon as possible, but-just...just give me time to think okay?"

Sora reached for him again, but refrained from touching him.

"Riku…"

The dispersion in Sora's voice almost broke Riku.

"I'm not saying I won't go through with them, I just need time to, you know, prepare myself. Mentally. If this is going to be painful I need to be ready for it."

Sora looked ready to say something, but Mickey spoke first.

"I understand, Riku. I believe it will be best for everyone to just rest for today and we will start everything tomorrow."

Riku nodded, at least he had bought himself some time. With no further questions, Mickey lead them out of the room and down to the Great Hall. Where Kairi and the Queen were waiting.

"I do hope Minnie didn't ask too many questions, Princess." Mickey joked, which earned him a look from Minnie.

Kairi shook her head and smiled.

"No if anything I was the one that asked a lot of questions."

"Oh deary, you didn't ask too many at all. I was happy to answer them." Minnie said.

The King joined his Queen while Kairi went over to the boys. She could tell something had happened between them while she was talking to the Queen. And it wasn't good.

"What happened." Kairi whispered, as she stood by Sora.

Sora shook his head sparing Riku a small glance.  
"Nothing. At least nothing major...I hope."

Kairi looked at Riku, his face wasn't giving way how he felt about whatever had occurred.

"Now, I know you three are probably hungry, but we will have to wait until Donald and Goofy get back." Minnie said.

"Where did they go? I thought they patrolled the castle." Sora questioned.

If Donald and Goofy had been sent off somewhere that was news to him. Why wouldn't the King had contacted them?

"They do, Sora. But something has come up and we didn't have the time to get in touch with you." The King started.

Mickey paused, he was trying to figure out if this was something else the three needed to worry about. They had enough to deal with now, he didn't want to add to it.

He decided to tell them, they were bound to find out eventually.

"There have been a growing number of Heartless sightings."

That information shook the three. They had thought that the Heartless were gone. Or at least their numbers so small that they were no longer a threat.

"We were first made aware of them by Squall and the others. They had told us that the numbers were similar to how they were when

everything started before." Mickey continued.

"They said that they had kept an eye on the numbers of Heartless and they are still growing. None of us want a repeat of another over take like before, so I sent out Donald and Goofy to investigate."

"The others though, they are okay right? None of them have been hurt?" Sora asked. He knew that fighting Heartless without a keyblade was hard, and if their numbers were growing it would be easy to be overpowered by them.

Mickey shook his head.

"No one has been hurt. The others took care of the Heartless before any damage could be done."

"When should Donald and Goofy be back?" Kairi asked.

The large doors opened before any answer could be given.

"We'll have to report these numbers to the King. He'll want to know about it right away." Donald squawked.

"Yer right, and I don't think he'll be happy when we tell 'em bout it." Came Goofy's response.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora exclaimed, his face breaking out into a giant smile.

"Sora?" Donald said before finding the trio standing next to the King and Queen.

"Well hiya there Sora! Whatcha doing here in Disney Castle?" Goofy asked as he and Donald walked up to them.

"Oh well, uhh…" Sora didn't know if he should mention anything about Riku's problem.

Mickey spoke up, taking the attention off of Sora and onto him.

"What was it that you guys said that you wanted to tell me? How bad are the numbers?"

Donald and Goofy stood at attention.

"They are how Squall and the others reported sir." Donald said.

"We went up against a hoard of them ourselves and they have gotten stronger, yer Majesty. They seem to be resurging again." Goofy chimed in.

"Oh no…" Minnie whispered.

Mickey's face hardened. It was just like the last time. He glanced at Riku, maybe these things were connected some how.

"Very well, you are dismissed. Dinner will be served in a few minutes, everyone."

And with that, Mickey and Minnie headed deeper into the castle.

"We will catch up with you Sora at dinner, I think it would be best if Goofy and I got ready for dinner." Donald said, and Goofy nodded and the two also headed deeper into the castle.

The three stood there for a few moments before Riku spoke up.

"I'm heading to my room."

With a nod from the other two the three parted ways.

Dinner was grand, rich food lined the long table. A small string band played softly in a corner of the room. The room was also filled with laughter and conversation. They were all catching up and sharing stories about their times away. Riku wanted to enjoy the scene in front of him, but he was dreading what tomorrow would bring.

He wondered just how painful the treatments were going to be. Would he be able to handle them. Would they work? Was it worth the pain he was going to go through? Doubt filled his mind about the treatments. He had no way out of them now. Riku was going to have to go through with them, he wouldn't be able to convince the others or himself that he didn't need them.

Once dinner was over everyone headed back to their rooms with bellies full and hearts light.

Riku laid on his bed awake, he was tired, but he feared sleep. He feared the nightmares that woke him every night. Without Sora next to him, he wondered if he would sleep through the night.

Riku looked out the large window and stared at the stars, he was happy to be off of the island. But he wasn't happy here either. He was starting to truly wonder, was he ever going to find a place where he truly belonged. Or would he be trapped somewhere, not able to leave. Stuck in one place.

Forever.

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Thank you for reading! And let me know what you think of it!


	12. Chapter 12

Hello everyone! I am SO sorry that I didn't update last week. It's finals week for me in my summer college class. So I have been a bit scattered brained as of late. Also this chapter was a killer for me, no idea why, but it was. I rewrote this chapter over and over again so I hope all of you enjoy it! And as always, thank you to XxShadowDragonRoguexX for adding my story to your favorites list! You are amazing! And thank you to v.t.7 for that wonderful review, you know how much they mean to me. And just a thank you to anyone who reads this story. I love you guys. Please don't be afraid to leave a review, I love to see what you guys think about it, and just who you think is behind all of Riku's torment and pain.

Enjoy!

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Sunshine illuminated the keyblade wielders room softly. Light was casted over Riku's face, but that wasn't what disturbed him from his sleep. Riku woke up to a soft knocking at his door. He looked over at his clock.

7:45 am

He wanted to do nothing more than roll over and go back to sleep. Yet the knocking persisted.

"Yes, I am awake." Riku called out.

"Breakfast will be served in fifteen minutes, sir." A butler said before going back to their other duties.

Riku sighed, he couldn't get upset with a butler. They were only doing their job. He layed in his bed a few moments longer before getting up and ready for the day.

Riku sat at the long dining table, so far he was the only one there. Relaxing back in the chair he thought about the day ahead of him. Mickey had told them before departing last night that they would be required to train daily. They had to advance their skills if they wanted to be able to stand against the new Heartless. Also they would have to assist in training Kairi to become a well trained keyblade wielder.

Yet he didn't know how much help he would be to her, she was made of pure light, and he...he wasn't. There wasn't going to be much he would be able to teach her. And how would he feel after these treatments? Would he be strong enough to teach her anything useful? Would he have enough strength to even participate in his own training?

All of these questions racing around in his brain made him wish that he was still asleep. At least in his dreams he knew what he would face, but out here, out here he knew nothing of what could happen to him.

"I see you could have used a little more sleep also." Kairi said, sitting across from him. She too wanted to sleep longer.

Riku sat up, his head in his hands.

"Yeah, it feels like I hardly slept at all last night. I don't see how people can wake up that early everyday."

"Well I think it might have to do something with those people being adults and _having_ to wake up that early." Kairi suggested, rubbing her eye's.

"So how much do you want to bet that Sora is going to be late for breakfast?"

Riku chuckled at the thought of the butler standing outside of Sora's door, waiting for a reply from him.

"Knowing how much of a problem we have trying to wake him up, I said the chances of him being late are pretty high."

"Good morning everyone." The King said, walking into the room with the Queen by his side.

"I do hope that everyone got enough sleep." The Queen said, as Mickey pulled her chair out for her. As usual they sat at the head of the table.

Both Riku and Kairi nodded. Riku wouldn't tell them about the nightmares though, he was sure those would be addressed at his light treatments.

Donald and Goofy came in moments after them.

"Sorry to eat and run but Yuffie used her crystal and said that we need to see something." Goofy said, picking up a piece of toast.

"We will be back as soon as we can." Donald said, eating some fruit.

Mickey nodded to them.

"If it is an emergency be sure to get in contact with me as soon as you can."

Donald and Goofy saluted him before taking their leave.

Kairi gave Riku as worried look, things were getting bad fast. And they all needed to train so they could get out there and help.

Maids and chefs and butler soon brought out piles of food out. Riku didn't know how they expected them to eat all of this food.

Minnie looked down the table.

"Wait, where is Sora? We can't eat without him. It would be oh so rude of us."

Kairi grinned.

"Probably still asleep. A bomb could go off and he would sleep through it."

Riku nodded, thinking back to all of the ways Kairi and him tried to wake Sora up in the past.

"Your best bet is to just pull him out of bed. Sometimes though that wouldn't even work."

Suddenly a loud thunderclap shook the castle, followed by a shout.

"What was that?" Kairi asked.

"I think that would be the way my staff woke Sora up…" Mickey suggested.

And soon enough a slightly charred Sora walked into the dining room. He flopped down in the chair next to Riku. Who jumped on the opportunity to pick on Sora.

"So, I guess you had a quite shocking awakening this morning, Sora?"

Sora gave Riku a dirty look.

"Not. Funny."

Riku saw that Sora still had a smudge on his cheek and Riku reached over and gently rubbed it off. While the others gave Riku a questioning glance, Riku smirked.

"Missed some." He said.

Mickey cleared his throat.

"Now that everyone is here, we can eat."

Sora took a quick head count and saw that Donald and Goofy were missing.

"Hey, where are Donald and Goofy?"

"They had to leave deary, but I'm sure they will be back before you know it." Minnie said.

The others started to dig into the wonderful food.

"Where did they go?" Sora persisted.

"Yuffie wanted them to look at something. And before you ask Sora, the reason why you are still here is because you all need to train."

Sora sat back against his chair, that was exactly what he was going to ask.

The group ate quietly, having small conversations every once and awhile. Even if they weren't on their normal world, the teens did enjoy some form of normality. Sharing a meal together was nice, but there was a tense undertone to the tranquil mood. They all knew what was ahead of them, and the struggles that would come with it.

Yet they ate, and enjoyed the moment. No matter how short it was going to be.

After breakfast Mickey lead the trio out to the training field. It was simple, but large. It was at least two mile long and just as wide, a whole army could train in it. There were some wooden battle dummies spread out along one side of the field, some were even suspended in the air.

There were stationary and moving targets on the other side of the field. Scorch marks on the targets and the surrounding area's made it apparent that that area was used for magic target practice. An equipment shed took on up the far side of the field. The others were really starting to wonder if at one time an army did train here.

"This is where most of your training will be happening," Mickey said. "There will be some magic study involved. Yen Sid has sent me some other books that will aid you in your training."

Sora groaned, he thought he knew everything he needed to know about battle magic.

Riku smirked. "You thought you wouldn't have to study something when you came here, did you Sora?"

Sora pouted. So what if he did? He thought he knew what he needed to know already.

They walked into the center of the training field, there was a faint ring shaped impression the size of a small arena.

"And this is where you will be fighting." Mickey said, snapping his fingers. The ground below them shook slightly and soon there were rising into the air.

"This arena is where you will either be fighting each other, or one of my soldiers, in a test of your skills."

They stopped climbing and hovered. The trio looked over the side, they were high up. Way to high up for their liking at the moment. They fought to keep their breakfast down.

"So uh how high up are we?" Kairi said nervously, moving to the center of the ring.

"And why are we so high up?"

"We are about 35 feet up in the air. And why we are so high up Princess, is so there can be absolutely no interference in the fights." Mickey explained. "The height also makes you aware of your surroundings. You have to always know how much room you have in a fight if you want to survive."

Mickey snapped his fingers once more and they slowly descended.

"Sora, I want you to stay here with Kairi and begin her training. Just start with the basic's, alright."

Sora and Kairi nodded. Sora noticed how he didn't mention anything about Riku.

"I thought both Riku and I would be helping Kairi train."

They touched back on the ground soundlessly.

"You both will be, but it is time for Riku to begin his treatments." Mickey said, turning to Riku.

Suddenly Riku didn't mind the height they were previously at. Sora took a step closer to Riku.

"I wanted to be there for his first treatment. If it's painful someone should be there with him."

"Sora you are needed here with Kairi, her training must start immediately." Mickey said, "She must be ready. So you will stay here and start her training."

Riku brushed his hand against Sora's.  
"Don't worry Sora, I'll be okay. And if you two get done training early, you can come up and see how I'm doing. Okay?"

Sora frowned but nodded.

"Alright," He looked at Kairi and smiled. "Well let's get to training!"

Mickey nodded to them and lead Riku through the long climb up the tower. Mickey opened the door and Riku felt like he was going to throw up. Despite his sick feeling he stepped into the room.

"When I talked to Yen Sid about your treatments, we had a hard time deciding how long and often your treatments should be."

Riku nodded as he sat on the bed, he did have a good feeling about where this was going.

"And we came to the conclusion that with the level of your imbalance, your treatments will happen everyday. For at least two to three hours." Mickey said.

Riku's face paled and his stomach dropped. He would be in this room for two to three hours, possibly in a bunch of pain. And he would have to go through this everyday, on top of his training and his magic study. He laid down on the bed, and he heard that laugh again.

The light orbs glowed into life and small light flakes the size of snowflakes, floated down and disappeared as they sank under his skin. The darkness inside him reacted instantly. Pain came in waves as the internal battle begun.

"I will come back up and get you in a few hours. You can do it Riku, I believe in you." Mickey said before leaving Riku to deal with this alone.

Sora cheered Kairi on as she performed a powerful Thundaga for the third time in a row.

"I think you have the hang of it now!"

Kairi gave him a big smile, resting her keyblade against her shoulder.

"See I told you I was a quick learner."

That was very true. In the span of two hours Kairi had learned how to summon her keyblade, some of the lower level spells and a few of the higher level spells. For someone who had only used a keyblade once, she was a natural wielder.

"You might be a quick learner, but trust me being in a fight is different than training." Sora said.

"I know that Sora, remember I have been in a fight before." Kairi said.

"Yeah but you had Riku with you. Fighting alone is a completely different thing. If you go down, there is no one else there to help you." Sora pointed out.

"Speaking of Riku, how do you think he's dealing with his treatment?" Kairi asked.

Sora looked up at the tower, he had no idea how Riku was comfortable with the idea of doing the first treatment alone.

"I don't know."

"Maybe he's done! Let's see if we can go and see him!" Kairi suggested. "I mean we've been training for about two hours now, I think that is a good start."

Sora nodded.

"Yeah, I mean we can't over do things on the first day! We have to save our strength!"

Kairi's and Sora's keyblades twinkled out of existence as they walked back to the castle and began the long climb up the tower.

Riku was laying on his side, arms wrapped around himself. These last two hours have been nothing but pain. He wanted it to stop, he wanted everything to stop. He couldn't stop shaking as the light continued to sink into him. Everything hurt, breathing hurt, moving hurt, and just laying down on the bed was hurting him. A trashcan was beside the bed. He had already thrown up twice.

Riku was covered in sweat, his jacket and jeans had been removed, he had sweat through them.

The room was too bright, everything was too bright. His eye's felt like they were burning every time he opened them. The light was too much for him, he was going to be consumed by his darkness. His body jerked against his will, sending shockwaves of pain through his body. He let out a pained hiss.

" _End it."_

That voice again.

" _You know what to do. End it."_

Riku couldn't listen to that voice, it was asking the impossible. He could never do that.

" _That keyblade of yours would make it quick and painless."_

He knew what keyblade that voice was talking about. The Keyblade of Hearts. He remember how Sora used it, his stomach flipped once again and he rolled over and threw up in the trash can. His shaking had gotten even worse, throwing up only caused him more pain.

Riku didn't hear the knock on the door, or did he hear Sora and Kairi asking if they could come in. Only a buzzing sound could be heard in his head.

Sora gave Kairi a concerned look as he thought he heard someone throwing up. He opened the door a crack and was assaulted by the smell of vomit. He opened the door farther and saw Riku hunched over the bed, throwing up.

"Riku!"

Sora dashed into the room and knelt by Riku's side. Kairi quickly followed behind Sora.

Riku spit into the trash can once more before looking at Sora. He groaned at the pain of the light hitting his eye's and shut them again as another wave of nausea took hold. Riku layed back down on the bed, trying to take deep breaths, but he could only take short shallow breaths. Those didn't hurt as bad.

Sora touched Riku's arm and frowned at how cold and clammy he was. His heart was aching for Riku. He didn't know how to help, or if there was any way to help.

Holding her breath, Kairi took the trash can and emptied it. She put in a new bag before putting back in it's spot. She had no idea Riku would be in this sort of pain. Why was he even in here this long?

"I think we should go and get the King." Kairi suggested. "It can not be safe for him to be like this for this long."

Sora nodded and moved to stand, but was held back by Riku. Riku didn't want to be alone any longer. Not when he was going through this.

"Don't worry, stay. I'll get the King. Someone should be with him in case he gets worse." Kairi said, her hand brushed over Sora's shoulder before she left.

Riku glared at Kairi as she left. Just in the short time she had been here he was already sick of her. If she hadn't been here Sora would have been able to be with him during his treatment, yet he was busy training her. Riku's stomach turned sour once again. He didn't know what was left in his stomach to throw up but he kept throwing up.

Sora grimaced as Riku threw up once again, he made sure that Riku's hair was up and out of the way. It freaked him out when he saw him glaring at Kairi, why was Riku so mad at Kairi? He couldn't recall any arguments the two had had in the short time they were here. Kairi hadn't mentioned anything to him about any arguments.

Riku let out a shuddered breath as his stomach started to settle, he sagged into the bed. He had no idea how he was going to be able to get through this everyday.

Sora rubbed Riku's arm, trying to comfort him. He moved the trash can so he could sit in front of Riku.

"The on and off switch is by the door." Riku said softly. Sora nodded and hurried over to the switch and flicked off the light orbs. Riku visibly relaxed as the lights disappeared.

"I wish you didn't have to go through this Riku." Sora said, kneeling in front of Riku.

Riku nodded.

"It's not your fault Sora. I was the one that let it get this bad."

Sora rested his head beside Riku's. He really wished there was another way Riku could get better and not have to go through all of this pain.

They sat in a comfortable silence until there was a soft knock.

"Sora, Riku, I have the king. Is it okay if we come in?" Kairi asked.

Sora glanced at Riku who looked like he needed some sleep. Riku gave him a small nod.

"Yeah come in."

Kairi opened the door and she and Mickey walked in. Mickey looked Riku over as he walked over to him. He, like the others, didn't except Riku to have this bad of a reaction.

Sora moved out of the Kings way so he could take a closer look at Riku. Kairi spared him a concerned glance before looking at Riku. None of them could lie about how bad Riku looked. His complexion was extremely pale. He was still shaking, and his eye's were once again, gold.

Sora picked up the trash can to empty it. He glanced into the trash can. Instead of normal vomit he saw a black ooze. Sora glance back at Riku. He would have to talk to the King about this and what it meant. But he knew that it wasn't a good sign.


	13. Chapter 13

Good lord look at the time, yes I know it's late, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. I've been working on it all day. But good thing is that my college class is done! And I passed my final with a 93%! Now I have to do clinical work and then take my certification sometime in September then I will be a certified phlebotomist! Now onto the normal stuff, thank you to unicron1000 for putting me and this story as their favorite! You my friend are amazing for doing that! And as always thank you to v.t.7 for leaving me a wonderful review, you hit the nail on the head when you said the darkness was basically a cancer. That is exactly what I was going for! I am so happy that you like how I'm keeping the characters in canon even as they go through this, it means a lot to me. I am so happy you are enjoying the story! And that goes for everyone! Thank you for reading!

Now onto the story before I get even more emotional!

* * *

Three months had passed since Riku's first round of treatments, and they hadn't got any easier to deal with. He had a horrible suspicion that the treatments were failing.

Within the first month of his treatments he was feeling good enough to participate in his training and book work. Yet going through his treatments alone took it's toll on him. Many times he wished for someone to be there with him. He once voiced his thoughts to the King.

"Riku you have to understand why I have Sora and Kairi busy during the time of your treatments. We can not risk them shortening your treatment times because they do not want to see you in pain."

Riku's stomach turned at the King's words. He was starting to think that the King didn't care how he was feeling. Or at least he thought those were his own thoughts.

Mickey sighed at the heartbroken look Riku had. The King rubbed his face. Suddenly he didn't look like the happy go lucky mouse everyone knew. He looked like someone with all the world's weight on his shoulders. It killed him to say these things to Riku. But he knew Sora and Kairi too well. All Riku would have to do would be to tell them to turn the orbs off and they would do it in a heartbeat.

"Riku, my boy, do not take my words in an uncaring way. I hate the thought of you being in that room alone, going through all of this pain. But we are on the last straw, there is nothing else we can do."

Riku looked up at Mickey, he nodded in understanding.

"We just cannot risk your imbalance getting worse." Mickey said. "You have too many people in the worlds that would be devastated to lose you, myself included. If there was another way I would take it, but we don't."

Riku once again nodded with a sad smile. He stood up from the chair, holding onto it slightly for support.

"I understand Mickey."

The keyblade wielder turned and headed to the door.

"I am sorry, Riku. I really am." Mickey said.

Riku looked at Mickey and nodded before leaving the room and headed up to the lonely tower for his treatment.

Nether Riku nor Mickey saw Sora and Kairi eavesdropping on their supposedly private conversation.

"Poor Riku. What can we do for him?" Kairi whispered before the two scurred away from Mickey's door.

"Technically Mickey never told us that we couldn't see Riku during his treatments." Sora said, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"So we just go and see him? But what about all the work we have to do? Mickey will know something is up if we don't get our work done." Kairi countered. She didn't want to cause Riku anymore stress.

"We'll just bring our work up with us. And think of it this way, while Riku is going through his treatment we can help him get his other work done too! Mickey can't get mad if we tell him that we are just helping Riku get his other work done."

Kairi nodded, catching onto what Sora was getting at.

"You really think Mickey will buy that if we get caught?"

Sora shrugged.

"I don't know, but we just have to make sure that we don't get caught."

From that moment on, Sora and Kairi rearranged their schedules so that while Riku was undergoing his treatments they could be with him. And help in any way they could to help him. It shocked Riku the first time they came into the room with all of their textbooks and notes.

They just set up all of their work as Riku watched them, he asked them why they were up here. The only answers he got was that they needed his help with their work, or that they just couldn't find a quiet spot to work.

Riku shook his head, much to his bodies protest. The pain had yet to subside throughout the treatment. But Sora and Kairi kept him distracted by asking him questions and what certain things meant. What potions would be useful in certain fights and what moves would be better against what enemies. Time had flown by as Riku answered their questions. While sometimes answer were put on hold as he threw up, he and the others would get their work done in the time Riku underwent his treatment.

In the second month everyone had noticed that Riku was starting to really drop weight. While Sora and Kairi were toning up, Riku was losing everything. No matter how much he would eat throughout the day he would throw it all up during his treatment. And with no appetite after his treatment, he was hardly eating.

Minnie had the chiefs make Riku a high vitamin and protein broth for his lunch and suppers. Sadly majority of that broth was thrown out. Not only was he throwing up during his treatments, throughout the day he was also throwing up. When Riku first saw the black ooze he tried to hide it, yet Sora had told the King about it after the first time he saw it. Mickey still had no idea how that could happen. He had consulted with anyone he could think of, he read any book he could get his hands on. Nothing helped. For what Riku was going through, he was the the first in recorded history for everything.

One day during Riku's sparing lesson, he gave everyone a scare.

Riku was in the magic area of the training field practicing against flying enemies. Five enemies were circling around him, waiting for an opening. Riku held his keyblade close, ignoring the fact that it was shaking. He had a rough treatment today, but he had already skipped three sparring sessions this week.

Suddenly the enemy behind him darted for him. He spun around and hit it back with his keyblade, the two on his right lunged at him. His dark shield went up and he aimed at them. Shaking as bad as he was it was hard to lock onto them.

He was able to fire off a few Fira's before an enemy hit him from the side. He stumbled as he tried to catch himself. Another flew into him, hitting him in his back. Riku drove his keyblade into the ground, leaning onto it for support. Never in his life had he ever felt this week. Before he would have been able to take care of these few enemies without breaking a sweat or taking any hits. But now he was getting his butt kicked.

The enemies kept coming, he was able to fend them off, but they were getting too many hits in in between. He could hardly raise his keyblade to block an incoming enemy, yet it hit him square in the face. He hit the ground hard. Riku's body went slack, he was so close to passing out. He couldn't believe how weak he had become. Dark spots began to fill his vision. Suddenly something exploded inside of him, and a surge of energy flowed into him.

Riku sprang to his feet, moving faster than he had the whole time he had been here and destroyed the enemies. Suddenly he could breath, nothing hurt anymore. He felt great as he destroyed the dummies. Being able to unleash this power, Riku couldn't believe how good he felt.

Within minutes all of the enemies were nothing but burnt and torn up bits. The area around Riku had giant chunks taken out of it. Smoke came off of the area around him, since he caught some of the grass on fire.

Riku grinned, he thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being able to destroy things that quickly.

Sora walked out onto the field, he _so_ did not want to do this today. It was too nice of a day to be stuck training.

He smelt something close burning, he looked around and his eye's locked on Riku. His stomach dropped. Not because of the burnt dummies, or because of the damage Riku had done to the field and the surrounding area. No.

Riku was standing there in his Dark mode outfit. The Keyblade of Hearts held tightly in his hands. A twisted smile on his face. And for once Sora was scared of Riku. Scared of all the damage he had unleashed due to being in his Dark mode.

"Riku!" Sora shouted.

Riku turned to him, his eye's glowing an unnatural gold. Riku had never seen Sora look at him like that. So scared. So fearful, of nothing else but Riku. Riku got severely light headed and collapsed.

Sora ran over to him, putting Riku's head in his lap. Slowly Riku's normal clothes returned and the Dark mode faded. But the pain returned. Riku groan and looked up at Sora.

"You're okay right?" Riku whispered. "I didn't hurt you?"

Sora shook his head, clutching Riku close. The treatments were failing. Sora didn't understand why. The treatment was meant to destroy the extra darkness and restore Riku's balance. But they only seemed to be making things worse. Sora pressed a small kiss on Riku's clammy forehead. Things were going to have to change.

Which they did.

The third month was horrible for Riku.

The King did confirm that the treatments were indeed failing. At this point Riku's imbalance should be returning to normal, yet the darkness was fighting back. Riku's health was also failing. Riku's breathing had become very labored. Mickey had brought a doctor in. She had told them that fluid was starting to fill Riku's lungs. They all knew that it wasn't normal fluid. Somehow the dark ooze was in Riku's lungs.

His eating has also gotten worse. Instead of eating little bits of food throughout the day, Riku wasn't eating at all. His weight had dropped to a dangerously low level. Sora was beside Riku throughout the entire day. Making sure he was at least drinking something, or trying to get a small amount of Minnie's broth into Riku.

Worse yet, the King had made Riku's treatment times even longer. Now he was in the tower for sometime five or six hours.

Riku needed help getting around the castle, which Sora had immediately said he would do. The two grown extremely close in their time together. Kairi had noticed it when she would see them throughout the day. Each of them seemed to need some form of physical contact between each other each other. Like they needed that reassurance to know that the other was still there.

Kairi had once brought it up to Sora, who didn't know what she was talking about, he just liked being close to Riku. She once asked him how he felt about Riku, which Sora somehow managed to dodge every time she asked him. She didn't think he was that dense, but apparently he was when it came to anything close to romance.

The worse for the trio had yet to come. While Kairi was with Minnie undergoing her Princess training, Sora was with Riku. He had brought some snacks, and the broth, up to the tower for after Riku's treatment.

Sora walked into the room, Riku hadn't heard him walk in. Riku's body was tense, shaking heavily. Small pained hisses passed through Riku's lips. It broke Sora's heart to see Riku like this.

Sora walked over to Riku, and set the snacks on the nearbynearby table. "H-how do you feel?"

Riku opened his eye's and instead of seeing the aquamarine eye's he loved, he saw those horrid golden eye's. The treatments weren't working.

"Horrible." Riku gritted out. "The light hurts a lot more today. It feels like it's burning me." He shut his eye's. Today was a really bad day. The trash bag had already been replaced four times, and it was only the second hour.

"I feel like I'm about to pass out…" Riku said. Even though it would have been okay for Riku to pass out on the bed, he was afraid his Dark mode would take over again. He feared that if that happened, he would hurt Sora.

Sora held Riku's hand. Riku was looking even sicker than he had a few days ago, which was something Sora didn't think could happen. He was deathly pale and so thin that it looked like the smallest bump would break him.

Sora felt tears in his eye's. He was so tired of Riku being in this state, he just wanted him to get better.

"Y-you're going to get better Riku...I-I promise."

Riku looked at Sora, even if his eyes weren't there normal color, he could see the emotion Riku held for him.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Sora...it'll only hurt you more in the end."

"Come on, please don't talk like that, Riku." Sora hesitated before he spoke. "You will get better."

Riku tried to smile at Sora's words but it came out as a grimace. grimaceRiku

clutched his chest, a coughing spell took him. Sora dapped at the corner of Riku's mouth when he was finished. Dark spots covered the tissue.

Riku's heart was hurting again, his whole chest felt like it was one fire. Riku's breathing suddenly plummeted, he was struggling for air.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed kneeling next to the bed.

Riku was gasping as he tried to breath, this was the worst attack he's had. A scream ripped through Riku. It felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Darkness curled around Riku.

"Mickey!" Sora shouted as loud as he could. He tried to get to the door but Riku had a death grip on his hand. Sora only hoped that Mickey had heard him.

Sora tried to talk Riku through the attack, but the darkness was growing around Riku.

Sora summoned his keyblade and unleashed a powerful Thundaga, hoping that would get Mickey's attention.

Luckily Mickey had heard him and bursted through the door. He gaped at Riku before hitting a button on the wall and the room exploded into light. Sora had to shut his eyes as the light reached a blinding level. He could hear Riku's screams getting even louder. He thought the grip Riku had on his hand would break it.

Suddenly Riku's death grip was gone and the room was quiet.

When Sora could see again he checked over Riku, the darkness was gone but suddenly feared the worst. Riku didn't look like he was breathing. He was impossibly still.

"H-hey Riku..." Sora's voice shook. "C-come on Riku..wake up!" He grabbed Riku's hand, squeezing it hard. Now he was the one that couldn't breath.

"Sora..." Mickey said, putting his hand on Sora's shoulder. This was the last thing he thought would happen.

Sora held his keyblade in the air and used a Curaga, Riku had to be okay. He had to. Sora held his breath, waiting for any sort of reaction that would signal Riku being okay.

Yet Riku was still, unmoving.

Mickey pressed the intercom on the wall and called for all of his healers to get to the tower immediately. Soon footsteps could be heard racing up the stairs.

Sora grabbed Riku by his shoulders and shook him slightly.

"This isn't funny Riku! Wake up!" Sora cried.

"Sora please! Let Riku go. Now! The healers are coming. They will need room!" Mickey demanded.

Sora shook his head, his own tears falling onto Riku's pale face. He shook him again. But Riku didn't respond. Sora's heart broke into pieces. Sora gathered Riku into his arms, sobbing into Riku's chest. He pressed soft kisses all over Riku's face. He didn't know why he did, it just felt right. He didn't care that the King saw this. He was too late. Everything that he wanted to tell Riku...he was too late.

Sora was gently pulled away from Riku by the healers. He stood by Mickey. All he could do was stare at Riku. RIku looked so peaceful. He didn't look like he was in any pain. But Sora was, Riku was gone.

Kairi and Minnie ran into the room. Kairi's hands flew to her mouth when she saw Riku. She looked over at Sora, who was just staring at Riku, crying. She's never seen him like this. So broken. Sora was never like this. She feared what would happen to Sora if Riku didn't make it.

Sora felt a hand on his arm, it was Mickey. He was ushered towards Kairi, his heart heavy and his stomach in knots. He felt sick.

Kairi hugged him tight. He felt her tears through his shirt. Yet he couldn't hug her back. There was no way he could comfort her, he was too heartbroken to do that. Mickey gave the two a moment as he stood next to Minne who grabbed his hand. The two of them stared intently at the healers as they worked feverishly on Riku.

Minnie looked at Mickey and nodded. Mickey moved over to Kairi and Sora and started to walk them over to the door. Sora was very reluctant to move. He couldn't just leave Riku again. The healers stepped back, they had done all they could. Sora let the healers leave first he wanted a moment with Riku. Minnie took Kairi back to her room

.

Sora stood there thinking of all the thing him and Riku had gone through. He thought that after he had gotten Riku back home all of this would be over. He never thought he would lose him again. Sora thought that they would finish high school together, go to college together. Basically do everything together.

Sora wished that he had realised his feelings sooner, he wished that they didn't bloom in this situation. Sora and Mickey moved to the door, he couldn't handle seeing Riku like this anymore.

Suddenly Riku gasp and took a shuddered breath. Sora was back at Riku side within seconds. Mickey called for the healers once more.

He looked over Riku's face, waiting for him to open his eye's. Yet they did not open. The healers were in the room in seconds and running scans on him. Sora stepped aside as they worked and Kairi was at his side not long after the healers were in the room. She had heard Mickey call for the healers.

After a short time, one of the healers walked over to Mickey and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and the healers left.

Once more Sora felt a hand on his arm.

"He will be fine Sora...but he needs his rest." Mickey said. "That much light must had been exhausting for him. I will watch him. You need your rest also."

Sora looked at the King and suddenly Mickey looked older. He didn't look like the happy go luck King he knew. He looked tired, drained.

Sora wanted to protest, he wanted to stay with Riku. Incase anything happened he wanted to be with him. Wanted to be with him when he woke up. But with the way the King was looking at him, he knew it was futile to refuse. Sora nodded, looking over Riku's face like it was the last time he was going to see it.

Sora's feet lead him out of the room without him really knowing it. He vaguely remember Kairi asking him if he was okay. Did he ever answer her? He couldn't remember. Maybe he just walked away without answering her.

He stared at his door before it clicked in his brain that he was in front of his room. He opened the door, walking slowly into the dark room and shut the door behind him. He slipped off his shoes and all but collapsed on his the bed. Sora stared blankly at the ceiling before he let out his own cry of anguish. Rolling to his side he sobbed loudly. He cried for hours. Sadly he came to the conclusion that he was going to lose Riku and there was nothing he could do about it.

* * *

Soooo uhhh that happened. But don't kill me, Riku's okay! See read it again, he's okay! Thank you for reading! Please leaving me a review, it really brightens my day and lets me know that people like the story. And I love hearing people's theories about this story and where they think it's heading!


	14. Chapter 14

So I just wanted to say sorry for the late time again, I have to excuse for it being uploaded this late. But we have broken the 100 page mark in this story so yay for that? No...okay. _Anyways_ onto the normal things.  
Thank you to: SoraKairiRikuNamine for leaving a review! I'm glad you are loving this story! Makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying this as much as I am! And know that I will always compliment you no matter what! You are amazing!  
Also thank you to: v.t.7. for always leaving me a review! I always love hearing what you have to say and what your theories are. And I will let you know that you are right about something...BUT I'm not going to tell you what part you are right about. Gotta keep ya in suspense!

And as always, thank you to everyone who is reading this, my first fic, you all gave me my confidence back in my writing! So thank you!

Enjoy!

* * *

After Riku's incident in the tower, his treatments were put on hold until his body became strong enough to deal with the treatments once again. Mickey, Minnie, Sora and Kairi had all agreed that it would be best for Riku to not be told the real reason why his treatments were put on hold.

He started to visit healers every other day to deal with his weight. They kept him on the special broth Minnie had made for him, yet they had to push him to eat solid food again. The first time he did eat something solid his stomach cramped up horribly and he was forced to throw it up. Slowly he got better with eat but Riku had yet to eat anything close to a full meal.

Since he eat so little during his treatment time his muscles had already began to show signs of atrophy. He also underwent forms of physical therapy to get his strength back. During that time Riku had to use a cane to help him walk. Which caused him to be teased to no end. Something about how his hair now finally made sense since he had a cane.

Yet, like with a Keyblade, he was deadly with it. It only took a few hits to the shins, on Sora's end, and a few threats, on Kairi's end, the jokes finally ended.

Even with going to all the healers and therapists not everything that happened to him in that time could be reversed. Riku had noticed during one of his strength building session he would always be out of breath. When he would be working to improve his Keyblade skills he could never do something longer than 10 minutes before getting very short of breath. He brought it up to one of his healers, who immediately checked his lungs. The news wasn't good. It seemed like the "fluid" that was in his chest had yet to fully disappear. And what had gone away had left scarring in his lungs. It seemed his breathing would be in a constant poor state.

During this once more challenging time Sora and Kairi had been with him. Helping him get through his therapy, and helping him around the castle when needed. With his friends by him he was happy to say that the voice had left him alone. The three of them kept track of how many days it had been since the last time he had heard the voice. And he was proud to say that he had gone two whole months without hearing anything. Sadly that was going to change.

When Mickey saw how well Riku was progressing through his therapy he felt that it was time for Sora and Kairi to set out into the worlds. Donald and Goofy needed help fighting the heartless and in investigating the source of the growing darkness. At first Riku understood why the King had sent them out and not have him go along. But as he progressed and got stronger he started to question the King. Yet he got the same answer. He just wasn't ready yet. Even when Riku was back to 100% he was still told that he wasn't ready yet.

Jealousy and anger burned hot within him. Jealous of the time Kairi was spending with Sora. Jealous of the stories that they would share over dinner. Jealous when they told stories of seeing old friends again. Angry that he wasn't there. Angry that everyone said that he was still too weak to do anything to help. Angry at the King for being the cause of this jealousy and anger.

For another three months this continued.

During dinner one night Kairi was talking about how she and Sora were fighting off a horde of Heartless in Traverse Town. And how she had gotten separated from Sora and the others.

Riku scoffed loudly at that, which made a few people glance his direction. She was always making stupid mistakes like that. In his mind she would always be the damsel in distress. Just because you could wield a keyblade doesn't mean you know how to fight.

Yet Kairi continued to tell her story. She was trying to fight her way back to the group when a Darkside dropped down in front of her. She went on to talk about how she was trying to fight it but knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it on her own. Even with her range of very strong light attacks.

Once more Riku scoffed. He didn't understand why she was even out in the field anyways. Out of all of them, he was the one with the most experience with the darkness.

Still Kairi continued.

When she thought she was done for, Sora came in and saved her. Like always.

"Hey I think you held up great against that Darkside Kairi." Sora added. "I don't think many of us could have held out that long."

Riku leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. He and Mickey took on three of them when they shut the door. He knew he could of taken down that Darkside by himself.

Kairi, finally having enough of Riku's attitude spoke up.

"Alright Riku, what is your problem? You've been shaking your head and scoffing the whole time I was talking. What is it."

Riku chuckled darkly. It was funny to see her this upset.

"You always need saving, Kairi. How can you even possibly think that you can be a keyblade master when you need someone to save you all the time?"

"Hey Riku that isn't true! She held her own out there!" Sora said, quickly stepping in to defend her.

 _He's defending her again._

Riku slightly twitched at the sound of the voice. It was back.

"How can she handle the Darkness when she has no experience with the Darkness?!" Riku pointed out. "If she is ever alone in a fight, she will die. Princess of Heart or not, she will die."

Sora glared at Riku.

"She won't die Riku. Because I will be there to protect her."

 _Only protect her, hmm. He only cares for the girl. When will you finally see that boy._

Sadly he was finally starting to see the truth.

"For now, you'll be there. Just wait until the fights get harder, longer. You both will have to be split up eventually. What is she going to do then?" Riku pointed out. "If she can't handle herself now, how can she even hope to last in a war?"

"What war Riku? We aren't fighting any war." Kairi said.

Riku grinned. "Not yet. But eventually we will be."

An ominous feeling settled heavy in the room. Somehow Riku's words had power behind them. Like he knew there was going to be war.

Mickey cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.

"Riku, I believe it is time we start your treatments again."

Riku shook his head.  
"No. Not until I get out in the field and show that I can handle myself better than she can. It's suicide for her and anyone fighting with her when she's out there."

"We are starting your treatments tomorrow morning. You have no say in it anymore." Mickey said.

"I never did!" Riku shouted. "All this time I've been kept here. Never aloud to go outside of this world and actually help. I know the darkness better than anyone here. I know what it can do…"

Suddenly it was all clear to him. It didn't matter how strong he was, or how strong he became, they didn't want him out fighting because of the darkness. They were afraid it would take him over. Somewhere deep in his mind he knew they were right to be afraid of that but he wasn't going to listen to reason.

"You all think I'll lose control." Riku spoke softly. "That's why you don't want me to fight. You are afraid that you will lose your control over me."

No one spoke.

"That what it is isn't it!" He paused. "Isn't it!"

"Riku, you don't understand…" Kairi began.

"For the love of all that is good Kairi, shut up! I don't care about what you have to say. I never have and probably never will!" Riku shouted. "So be a good Princess and do what you are told."

Kairi's eyes filled with tears and she stood up and ran from the room. But she had one last thing to say to him before she left.

"The reason why we don't want you to fight is because you died that day! Your darkness killed you!"

And with that confession she was gone.

The group sat stunned, Riku was never suppose to know what happened. Yet now it was out in the open. He knew.

Riku looked around the table, waiting for someone to speak up. The darkness that was growing inside Riku sank back, it had played it's part for now.

"Is it true, what she said. Is it true?" Riku asked. He tried to make eye contact with Sora, but Sora wouldn't look at him.

"Yes. It is true." Mickey said, breaking the silence. Minnie tried to stop him from saying more but he shook his head. Riku needed to know. It wasn't right for them to keep it from Riku.

"You were dead Riku. The healers couldn't bring you back. You were gone." Mickey continued. "Your darkness overpowered you, and with your body in a weakened state, it couldn't handle the stress. Your heart gave out and you passed away."

Riku suddenly felt very weak.

"W-why wasn't I told about this sooner?" He looked at Mickey. "I had a right to know!"

Mickey nodded.

"You are right, we should have told you. We were afraid that if you knew it would hinder your chances of getting better."

Riku shook his head. How could anyone process something like this calmly.

"We thought we were doing the right thing Riku." Sora said, finally meeting Riku's gaze.

Riku stared at Sora, "How did I come back? I-I mean if the healers couldn't do anything then how did I come back?"

Sora shook his head.

"We don't know, no one knows. But you made it back, that's all that matters to me." Sora said with a small, yet sad, smile.

Riku nodded and looked down at his full plate of food, suddenly he wasn't hungry. He stood slowly.

"Uh...if you guys see Kairi before I do, tell her I'm sorry. I don't know why I said any of that…"

"Of course, deary. But I'm sure that she already knows that you didn't mean any of it." Minnie said gently.

Riku offered one more nod before heading up to his room. It had been a long enough day. He was ready to sleep.

Little did the group know that those three months was what the darkness needed to finally mature into the monster it had become. All it needed was a little longer and it would be free.

Riku spent his morning walking around the ground of the castle. He didn't feel like it would be a good idea for him to be around anyone after his outburst last night. Maybe being alone for sometime would be good for him. But he was never alone. That voice kept talking to him, saying that it was almost over. What was almost over? Riku had an unshakable feeling of dread, what was going to happen to him? To the others?

He felt sick to his stomach, nothing good was going to happen soon. He knew it.

"Hey Riku!" Sora called out to him. He had been looking for him all morning.

Riku offered Sora a hint of a smile, but he couldn't muster up anymore more than that.

"Look Riku...about last night." Sora began as he caught up to Riku.

"Look Sora it's okay. We don't have to talk about it." Riku said. His heart was aching for some reason.

Sora shook his head, no he wanted to talk about it.

"Riku, I wanted to tell you what happened but I didn't know how, or how to do it the right way…"

Riku nodded.

"Really Sora I understand. I mean how can you tell someone that they died? There is no right way to say that."

"I know, but I'm sorry Riku. You are my best friend, and I didn't want to hurt you. You know that right?" Sora asked.

"Of course I know that." Riku said.

Sora suddenly smiled brightly.  
"Good, but I have a way to really make it up to you!"

Riku groaned inwardly. Whenever Sora got like this, it never ended good for them.

"Hey now, don't get like that. You'll like it I promise." Sora said, grabbing Riku's hand and pulled him to a distant shed.

"Sora what are you doing?" Riku asked as Sora opened the large doors. There sat the Gummi Ship. Oh he really didn't like where this was going now.

"You are going to visit some worlds with me today Riku!" Sora said proudly. He pulled Riku over to the Gummi Ship before Riku could protest. He was already climbing in before Sora let him get a word in.

"Sora I really don't think this is a good idea. You don't know what could happen if we get into a fight." Riku protested.

Sora sat in the pilot seat.

"And neither do you know sit down and buckle up because we are ready to travel!"

Riku sighed and did what he was told, protesting the whole time.

"Sora you know my breathing isn't good. If we have to run I don't know how far I'll make it before I have to stop."

Sora shrugged.

"We will deal with that if we have to, now just relax because we are going to Traverse Town. Everyone's been waiting to see you."

Riku couldn't say anything else because they were already flying and traveling between the worlds.

Sora wasn't the smoothest pilot but at least Riku didn't throw up. So that was a good thing, right?

Riku stumbled out of the ship grumbling complaints under his breath.

"Come on it wasn't that bad Riku!" Sora said, jumping out of the ship and practically skipping as he walked.

"I told you to not barrel roll through those asteroids! And what did you do?"

"I had fun, unlike you Mr. Grumpy." Sora teased, before pulling Riku along with him.

They traveled down the seemingly deserted street, he really hoped Sora knew where he was going. It's been so long since he was through here that he had forgotten where everything was. As they walked Riku could have sworn that he saw something moving around them. He asked Sora but he said he didn't see anything. Riku shook his head. Great he was starting to see things again.

Sora was talking as they turned down an alley. Riku saw scorch marks along the building, along with chunks of the building was missing.

"Is this where you guys fought the Darkside?" Riku asked, pausing to look around.

Sora turned back and nodded. "Yeah, it came down right where you are standing. I was two streets over when I saw it come down. It's strange though...I thought we fixed all of this area before we left."

Riku gave Sora a worried look, that didn't sound good for them.

"Let's keep moving Sora. I don't think we want to stay in one place for too long."

Sora nodded, his Keyblade bursted into life. They could never be too care these days. Riku would summon his Keyblade, but he feared which one would come forth. His Soul Eater, or the Keyblade of Hearts.

They didn't travel too far before the ground trembled under them. Flashing a look at Sora, they ran. He thought it was too quiet. Soon mounds of Heartless where behind them. Riku could already feel his lung burning but they couldn't stop running. They would be overwhelmed in seconds if they did.

Another quake rocked them off their feet. Something big had landed near them.

Riku looked back and saw the Heartless catching up to them. He scrambled to his feet and tried to pull Sora up. They had to move. But the quakes kept them off balance, the Heartless where on them.

At the last moment Riku managed to put up a dark shield. He knew it wouldn't hold long as the Heartless slammed into it. Riku looked down at Sora.

"You okay?"

Sora nodded.

"We'll be trapped if we don't move. I think it's another Darkside."

Riku groaned, his heart was killing him. His lungs burned, running was not an option for him anymore. Fighting would be pushing it. But that's the only way he could think of how they could get out of this mess.

His shield was beginning to crack. The Heartless were hitting it as hard as they could.

"Alright...let's try and run. I take the shield down then you need to send them back so we can-" Riku looked up and saw not one Darksides, but two Darksides staring down at them.

Running wasn't an option anymore. Both exits were blocked. They would have to fight.

"Riku." Sora said very seriously.

Riku looked down at Sora, who was starting to stand.

"You can do this. We will get out of this."

Riku nodded, he didn't know how true that was. His lungs burned, so did his heart. All he could do was buy Sora enough time to get out of here and back to the ship. That would be good enough for him. He could handle going out like that. He already died once, he knew what it was like.

Riku made the dark shield explode, pushing the heartless away from them. They were ready for the fight.

And a fight it was. Trying to dodge thousands of Heartless and two Darksides in such a small area, was nothing short of impossible. Sora had already gone into Valor form to stop himself from going down. But they fight had already gone on too long, Sora couldn't risk going into Master form incase it wasn't enough.

Riku could go much longer, his reactions were getting slow. He was knocked to the ground by a Darkside and a number of Heartless were going to attack Sora from behind. He couldn't move, the Darkside was keeping him pinned to the ground.

"Sora!" Riku shouted. He saw Sora turn but it was too late. The Heartless were on him. Riku's mind flashed back to his nightmares. They were coming true.

"No!" Riku shouted, then a dark fog covered everything. He couldn't see anything. But he felt great. He looked down and he saw that his Dark Mode had taken over once more. Wait, wasn't the Darkside pinning him down a second ago. Riku glance up and saw the Ansem's Guardian holding up the hand. His stomach turned over. Ansem's Guardian had sprouted out of his back. He knew he should be freaking out but he was going to use this power to his advantage. The Guardian twisted the Darksides hand around, before tearing it off of it's arm and threw it at a bunch of Heartless, killing them.

The Darkside roared out in pain. Riku flew up to the injured Darkside and swiftly decapitated it. It headless body crumbled, taking a few buildings with it before it disappeared.

Riku looked down at Sora who was still under the Heartless and darted to him. He was stopped by the second Darkside. Riku snarled. It was in his way. He was tired of things getting in his way. Like the one before it, it went down quickly, with it's head cut cleanly off. By the time he got to Sora the Heartless had start to disappear. Oh they weren't getting away that easily. He commanded them to stop. The Guardian took care of them swiftly.

By the time Sora was on his feet the Heartless were gone. Chest heaving Sora grinned.

"It would have been nice if you would have done that sooner Ri-"

Sora froze when he saw just how Riku took care of everything. Not only was Riku in his Dark Form, Ansem's Guardian was floating behind him.

"Look Sora, I know this looks really bad, but I am in full control. The guardian only listens to me."

Sora still couldn't move. Here he thought Riku dieing was the scariest thing he could see, but seeing Riku now, scared him the most.

"Sora?"

He shook his head.

"Y-yeah...okay I think it's time we head back to the castle." Sora said, brushing by Riku.

Anger flared in Riku, he heard the Guardian growl behind him. "You know I did just save your life Sora! I took down both of the Darksides and the Heartless that were on you!"

Sora nodded. He was still scared, but who could blame him.

"I'm sorry Riku...thank you for saving me. But could you please go back to normal. It's scary seeing you like this…"

Riku really didn't want to. But seeing Sora scared hurt him even more, so reluctantly the Guardian faded as well as his Dark Form. Sora visibly relaxed when Riku was back to normal. The walk back to the Gummi ship was awkwardly quiet as was the trip back home.

Before Sora could leave the shed that held the ship he stopped Sora and hugged him tight.

"I really am sorry for scaring you Sora." Riku said softly. "I only wanted to protect you."

It took a few moments but Sora hugged him back. Maybe tighter than Riku was holding him.

"I know...just don't scare me like that again. Okay?"

Riku nodded, he could feel Sora shaking as he held him. He pressed a kiss on the top of Sora's head.

"I promise."


	15. Chapter 15

So the one time I want to update on time the site decides that its not going to work, wonderful. Anyways...Hey everyone, sorry I didn't update last week. But lets just say I didn't have a good week, two anxiety attacks later and I'm feeling okay. But anyways, thanks to v.t.2 for leaving me a wonderful review, I'm glad you like the story so much! And thank you to acmlc for following my story and making it a favorite!

Enjoy!

* * *

The moment Riku and Sora got back they were greeted by Mickey and a hand full of his guards. True to Mickey's words Riku was escorted back up to the tower by the guards. He didn't see Riku for the rest of the day.

Mickey kept Sora out of the castle for a majority of the following day. His training time was doubled as was his studies. During his time on the field he was pushed to his max. His impromptu trainer, one of Mickey's mages and a scary one at that, decided that it was the right time to practice going in and out of his different forms.

"I'm Oro. I already know who you are, and I don't care. All I care about is if you can do what I say." Oro said. "Now I'm going to call out a drive form and you will go into it, do you understand?"

Sora hesitantly nodded to the man. He thought Squall was scary at first, but this man was twice as scary as Squall. A deep scar ran down his face over his right eye and down his neck, making him blind in one eye. But Sora didn't think for a second that made the man less of a threat. Oro towered over him with a two foot difference. His graying hair showed his age, but Sora didn't dare comment on it. Nor did he had the time, before he could prepare himself, Oro had already called out a form.

"Valor!"

Sora concentrated, letting the power build up inside him before it took over in a burst of light. He held on tight to the two keyblades. His trainer didn't seem impressed. After a few minutes of maintaining his Valor Form he called out another.

"Final!"

Wait, this man wanted him to jump over three forms? He had never done that before. Could he do that? Was it possible for him to do that? Was it safe to do that?

"Did I stutter? I said go into your Final Form!"

Sora jumped in his skin before he concentrated hard on what his Final Form felt like. What he could do in it. He hoped that this worked. He really didn't want to know what would happen if he failed.

Energy swirled inside of him, building before Sora could no longer contain it. Bright light surrounded him and there he was in his Final Form. He wasn't in it long before he felt the strain it took to maintain it. His trainer chuckled as he struggled to hold out.

"What's wrong keyblade wielder, rusty?" Oro circled Sora, inspecting his form. "It seems that your time away has made you soft. But don't worry with my help you'll be back in shape in no time."

That is how Sora's day went till the sun was starting to set. He would go from one form to another, jumping over Forms or bringing himself down from higher forms. Sora hadn't stopped for any breaks. There was no time for drinks or food. The brunette was ready to pass out when his trainer called out another form.

"Master form again!"

Sweat rolled down Sora's face as he once again changed into his Master form. But something was wrong, something didn't feel right. Darkness clouded his vision and mind. He was lost in the darkness once more.

Oro smirked. This is what he had hoped to happen. He was pleasantly surprised how long the kid had held out before falling into this form.  
He watched Sora in his Anti Form, studying how he moved like a Heartless. How Sora always kept him in his line of sight, even as he dashed behind him. Any normal person would freak out if they saw Sora like this. But he knew Sora couldn't hold out long before this form would give out. Sora didn't have the energy to stay like this long.

Sora took one step towards him before he fell to his knees. Soon the darkness cleared and a worn out Sora glared at him.

"I thought someone like you would have known about the dangers of me constantly using my Drive forms! I told you hours ago that we should stop!" Sora exclaimed. He hated the feeling of being in his Anti form. He always felt like he needed a bath after being in it.

Oro could only laugh at the audacity that Sora had. He looked ready to pass out, yet he was still able to chew him out.

"I'll say, I didn't think you had any fight left in ya kid. You are better than what I thought you were. I was sure that you were going to pass out before you would go into that form." Oro said.

Sora's jaw dropped. Oro wanted him to go into Anti Form!

"You wanted that to happen?! Do you know what I could have done if I wasn't so tired and hungry! I could have killed you!"

Once more Oro laughed.

"Kid you think I don't know what you are capable of doing in that form? That is why I got you so tired. I knew that you wouldn't be able to do much of anything when you were that tired. Now, stop your complaining and head back into the castle, I'm sure dinner is about to start."

Sora stared at the man like he was insane, if anything he probably was. Yet he stood on shaking legs and walked back into the castle. He barely made it to the dinning table before his legs gave out on him. With no energy left, he collapsed into the chair. It seemed that he was the last one to arrive, since the food was brought out seconds after he sat down. Sora tried to concentrate on the conversations that happened around him. But it was all he could to do put his fork to his mouth.

They were about halfway through the meal before Sora finally noticed that something was off. Riku was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where is Riku?" Sora asked, making eye contact with everyone at the table.

All conversations came to an abrupt end. An awkward feeling came over the room. There was a reason that Sora was kept out of the castle all day. And they all had something to do about it. He could tell by the looks on their faces. Something wasn't being said.

"Where is Riku." Sora asked again, this time in a more demanding tone. He wasn't going to deal with their silence tonight. He didn't have the energy or the patience for it.

Queen Minnie looked at Mickey and Kairi, waiting to see if they were going to speak. She was obviously upset by whatever those two had done.

"Minnie, where is Riku." Sora asked once again. He knew that she was close to telling him what had happened today. All he had to do was push.

She kept looking between Mickey and Kairi, silently begging for them to say something. But they kept silent, eating their meals like nothing had happened.

"I know you know what happened to him. All I am asking is where he is at." Sora's voice was strained. He was already at the end of his rope, he didn't need anything like this right now.

"I was against the decision but-" Minnie began, she couldn't handle the pressure anymore. Sora had a right to know. Riku was special to Sora, they had no right in hiding anything from him.

"He is still getting his light treatment."

Sora's exhausted brain didn't put two and two together, he didn't know what was so bad about that. He didn't see the need to hide the fact that Riku was still getting his treatment. Yet Minnie continued.

"I was against the idea to have him go through it for two complete days. I mean the poor boy needs a break, having to go through that much pain for two day in a row is nothing short of torture."

Finally it clicked together for Sora. That was the reason why he was kept out of the castle all day. Riku had been locked in the tower for two full days. He was not allowed to leave and forced to undergo that much pain for two days. If Sora had been aware of that he would have busted down the door and pulled Riku out of there a long time ago. He looked at Mickey and Kairi, they had yet to speak up and deny anything.

"Is that true? Has Riku been up there for two days without any breaks?" Sora asked, suddenly he didn't feel so tired anymore. He was shaking with anger.

"It was a decision that had to be made." Mickey said, finally speaking up. "After everything that had occurred, the Princess and I felt that it was necessary for Riku to stay in the tower for an extended period of time."

Sora looked at Kairi, hurt painfully visible on his face. He couldn't believe that Kairi would do something like that to Riku. He thought that they were friends.

"Is that true Kairi? Did you really agree to do this to Riku?" Sora's voice had lost all strength behind it. His heart was broken to know that Kairi could do something like this to Riku. She knew how much Riku means to him. To intentionally harm Riku like this was something he could never imagine her doing.

Kair put down her fork softly, gathering herself before she looked at Sora. Her eye's held a hardness that he has never seen from her before.

"Yes Sora I did agree to it. You saw how out of control he was getting. We had to do something to get him back. Sora you need to understand, these treatments are the only thing that can help him now. It was a mistake to give him time away from the treatments. This is for the greater good."

Sora shook his head, he couldn't believe what he had just heard. He jumped up from his chair and ran to the tower. For the greater good? Since when did Kairi start thinking like that? Nothing was making any sense.

His tired legs screamed as he climbed the stairs, but he couldn't stop. He had to get to Riku before anything else happened. His legs were visibly shaking as he got to the top of the tower. Sora unlocked the door before he swung the door open. His senses were assaulted by the smell of vomit and sweat. Sora held his breath as he walked into the room.

Pools of vomit collected in front the bed, alongside a vomit filled trash can. It seemed that no one had come into the room to change the trash bag. Riku's clothes were flung into different parts of the room, they reeked of sweat and vomit. Sora could only guess that Riku had sweat through them and couldn't wear them any longer. No food or water was present in the room, no one had come up to check on Riku at all. Sora looked at the bed where Riku was curled in a tight ball, shaking and twitching violently. Riku's hair was sticking up in places, it looked like he also had vomit in his hair. Sora was sure that if anyone was in the room they could have heard his heart breaking.

Sora turned off the light orbs and the room fell dark, Riku still didn't stop shaking. Sora hurried to Riku's side, careful to avoid stepping in anything. Gently he put his hand on Riku's sweat slicked shoulder. He was so cold.

Riku jumped at the contacted, curling in tighter on himself.

"It's Sora, Riku. It's me, I'm going to help you." Sora spoke softly, afraid to frighten Riku further. Yet Riku still didn't relax. All he did was shake and twitch.

Sora could see Riku's dark mode was rapidly switching on and off under the blanket.

The brunette sat gently on the bed beside Riku. He just wanted Riku to talk to him, then he could focus on the bath and food that Riku desperately needed.

"They had me stay out of the castle Riku." Sora whispered as he ran his hand through Riku's hair. "They knew that if I found out about what they were doing to you, that I would break you out of here."

Riku still didn't speak. To Sora it seemed like Riku hadn't even heard him talk. Yet Sora wasn't going to give up that easily, Riku needed him and he was going to be there for him no matter how long it took. No one was going to make him leave Riku's side.

After sometime of silence and hair stroking, the twitching and shaking seemed to lessen. Not by much, but a little. Riku seemed to get a grip of his Dark form, as it stopped activating and deactivating. Riku seemed to be getting back to normal, but Sora had yet to get Riku to talk to him. Which was starting to worry him. What if something had gone wrong while Riku was up here and now there were serious side effects. Sora wouldn't be able to forgive the others if that had happened.

Trying to get out of depressing thoughts, Sora turned his attention back to Riku.

"Riku, do you want to take a bath?" He asked. Even if that was all he could get Riku to do today Sora would be happy with that. Riku didn't react right away to Sora's question, but soon Riku nodded.

Sora couldn't help but smile, after an hour of silence and no reaction to his questions, Sora finally got a response.

"Alright, stay here for a second and I'll get a bath started. Don't move."

Sora quickly went over to the small bathroom that was connected to the room and flicked the light on. He put the stopper in the drain and turned the water on. Sora made sure that the water was warm enough but not too hot. All Riku needed to do now was relax, he would take care of the rest. He turned to head back to help Riku up when he saw Riku struggling to push himself into a sitting position. Sora hurried back to the bed and helped Riku sit up slowly. His shaking still hadn't gotten any better.

Sora put one of Riku's arms around his shoulder and one arm around Riku's waist. Slowly Riku stood and the blanket fell from Riku's sweaty and now naked body. Sora's face flushed red when he realised that Riku had nothing on, yet he pushed his embarrassment aside and helped Riku to the bathroom. Riku slowly stepped into the full tub and Sora shut off the water.

As Sora got some warm towels ready, Riku attempted to clean himself. Yet the incessant shaking and twitching made it impossible. Riku wanted to get frustrated, but this was only a dream right? He was still undergoing his treatment right?

His arm simply fell back into the water, along with the sponge. Sora looked back at Riku, he reminded him of a child. Looking so lost and helpless. With a heavy heart Sora walked back over to Riku, who still would not stop shaking, and grabbed the sponge. Softly did he wash Riku with the tender care that he was in dire need of.

Riku kept watching Sora as he bathed him, it was as if he was scared he was going to disappear. But this was only a dream, he would have to wake up adventually.

Sora glanced at Riku and noticed that he was staring at him with a dreamy smile on his face. Sora smiled at him.

"What's with the look?"

Riku shook his head as Sora moved to wash his hair. This was probably the best dream he had had in some time. He didn't want to ruin it.

Sora took extra time and care when it came to washing Riku's hair. He wanted to make sure that everything was out of it and Riku was getting all the attention he needed. Sora didn't know just how much he enjoyed messing with Riku's hair. Sora found himself just running his hands through it, and styling it in silly ways. He was sure that Riku would say something after he gave Riku a mohawk. Yet Riku kept quiet, relaxing against the tub.

When Sora felt that the water was turning cold he tilted Riku's head back and rinsed out Riku's hair, making sure that nothing got in Riku's eyes. Once again he caught Riku staring at him with that dreamy stare. Sora felt his face heat up, yet he kept his focus on making Riku feel better. Sora pulled the plug out of the drain and grabbed a warm towel. He helped Riku out of the tub and wrapped the towel around Riku's waste before having him sit on a chair so he could brush out Riku's hair. Riku was still shaking as Sora ran the comb gently through his hair.

It wasn't long before Riku felt his eyes start to shut, he was suddenly very tired. How could he be tired if this was a dream? He let his eyes shut as Sora continued to brush his hair. Sora looked at Riku's reflection in the mirror, he looked so relaxed. He couldn't help but smile.

Sora put the brush down when he thought that Riku's hair had been thoroughly brushed out. He grinned at his handy work, proud that he got Riku to this state. The shaking was still there but not as sever and all signs of twitching had finally disappeared. Sora stood behind Riku with his hands on Riku's shoulders.

"I think you'll be happy with how you look now." Sora said, looking in the mirror at Riku.

Slowly as if waking up from sleep Riku opened his eyes. He didn't even bother looking at himself. Riku just tilted his head back and looked at Sora, who looked down at him with a smile. Riku reached up with a shaking hand and held Sora's cheek in his palm. It was like they were in their own little world, Riku felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

Riku pressed his lips against Sora's so softly that it might had just been a dream. Riku's arm dropped to his side, he didn't have the energy to hold it up any longer. Sora's face went bright red at the kiss, his heart pounded and his stomach did flips. Riku gently pulled away from him, it was only just a dream. Right?

"I'm going to hate to wake up from this dream." Riku said, his head lulling to the side. He was sure he was going to wake up anytime now. These types of dreams never lasted long.

That didn't sit well with Sora. He didn't Riku to think that this was only a dream. No Riku was going to remember this. Sora moved in front of Riku, gaining Riku's attention. Sora kissed Riku firmly. Riku was going to remember this, no matter what. Riku's eyes were wide when Sora pulled away from him. Sora couldn't help but look away as Riku stared at him, but Sora's blush gave away everything he was feeling.

Sora helped Riku get back up, trying to avoid Riku's questioning gaze. Sora helped Riku back to the bed, careful to avoid stepping on anything. He pulled out a pair of pajama pants and handed them to Riku. Sora really wished that his face would cool down!

Riku struggled slightly getting the pants on, but with a little time he got them on. He still was staring at Sora, had what just happened really happened?

Saying nothing Sora went over to Riku and helped him off the bed, he would not be sleeping here tonight. Not over Sora's dead body.

Making it down the many steps was a challenge, but they finally made it to Sora's room. Since it was the closest from the tower he figured that they would have less of a chance running into anyone on the way. Sora didn't feel safe until he shut the door behind him and Riku. They made their way to the bed and layed Riku down on it. Sora moved to change when Riku held tight on his hand.

"Th-this isn't a dream...none of that was a dream. Right?" Riku asked after a small pause.

Sora shook his head. "No, none of it was a dream. Not one part of it was a dream. Everything that happened was real." His face grew hot once again. "But we will talk about it in the morning. You need some sleep."

Riku looked Sora over before he nodded, relaxing against the bed. He tried to stay awake as Sora changed, he was still afraid that it was a dream, but his body soon succumbed to sleep. Sora crawled into bed next to Riku. His stomach was filled with butterflies as he thought about what this would mean for the two of them. Yet somewhere deep down he knew that the two of them would be happy in the end.


	16. Chapter 16

Alright I hope you guys are ready for this chapter because it is one of my longest ones yet! I would like to thank SoraKairiRikuNamine for leaving me a review! So happy you guys are reading this!

Enjoy!

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Since that day Sora had stuck to Riku's side like glue. Never were the two seen apart, Sora couldn't trust the others enough to leave them alone with Riku. Sora confronted Kairi once, demanding that she explain her real reason behind leaving Riku in the tower. He knew that she wasn't a "greater good" person, she was better than that.

Kairi was in the library when Sora stormed into the room, the door slamming against the wall as he threw it open, causing Kairi to jump in her seat.

"H-hey Sora, what's going on?" Kairi said, she had never seen Sora this upset. Sora had never glared at her like he was doing now. He was looking at her as if she had done something unspeakable.

Sora stood in front of her, chest heaving. He had waited two long weeks for Kairi to come and explain herself and her actions, but it was clear that she was never going to get to that point.

"What's going on? What's going on?! I think I have a right to know why you and Mickey made the decision to keep Riku in that tower for two days straight!" Sora said.

"Sora, what are you talking about. The King and I haven't had any conversations dealing with Riku's treatments." Kairi said.

She stared up at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. She didn't remember making any decision like that with Mickey. They had never talked about anything like that.

"Oh really," Sora scoffed. "So I didn't spend the entire night cleaning up Riku and getting him back to normal. I didn't watch him not being able to walk or clean himself? None of that ever happened right!"

Kairi shook her head and placed her book down before standing up. She really had no idea what Sora was talking about. When did all of this happen? And how did she miss it?

"I don't know Sora! Maybe it did maybe it didn't I can't answer that because I don't remember what you are talking about. Why would I or the King leave Riku in the tower for two days? We remember how bad he got!" Kairi said, defending herself. She had no idea what was going on.

"That's what I want to know Kairi! Why did you do it?" Sora felt all of his anger starting to wain. He couldn't understand why Kairi was lying to him like this. All he wanted to know was her reason behind it. That's all.

"You know how much Riku means to me Kairi...I just want to know why you would hurt him like that." Sora's voice broke as he spoke. Riku just meant to much to him to let someone he called a friend hurt him deliberately.

Kairi moved to hug Sora but stopped when he stepped away from her. What had happened that day? If what Sora was saying was true then

why would she do something like that? And if she did do what Sora said she had done, then why doesn't she remember doing it?

"Sora, look I really am sorry for what happened to Riku. But I really don't remember doing anything like that." Kairi said. She couldn't stay mad at Sora when he looked so heartbroken.

"I wish I did remember so then I could give you an explanation, but you have to know that I would never hurt Riku like that. We all know how much he means to you."

Sora looked Kairi dead in the eye's, she wasn't lying. She really didn't remember what happened that day. He took a small step back, as if rocked by the truth. How could she not remember what happened? He knew that day had happened, he would never be able to forget that day. Not in a million years. But how could he remember that day, but she couldn't. Something wasn't right.

Sora quickly apologized to Kairi for his outbursts and exited the room, flustered. It couldn't be Namine messing with his memories again,

no. She was still with Kairi. Namine couldn't be able to mess with his head from inside of Kairi's heart. There would be no way for her to do that. Namine would have to leave Kairi for her to be able to do anything. And he thought that even if she could that Kairi would be able to remember that.

Sora hurried around the castle, trying to find the King. Maybe he would be able to remember that day, or at least clear up the mystery of why Kairi couldn't remember that day. It took some time but he finally found the King in his private studies.

Mickey was intently reading a tome when Sora quietly entered the room. He couldn't make out the title of the tome, it seemed to be written in symbols that Sora was not familiar with. The book brought back memories of Zexion and the tome that he always had with him.

Sora stood there for a few moments, Mickey seemed unaware of his presences. Sora took that time to get himself in order. His mind was still reeling from his conversation with Kairi, and the strangeness that came with it. Still it made no sense why he would remember everything and she remember nothing. Sora cleared his throat trying to gain Mickey's attention, yet Mickey was fixed on that book.

Sora took a step closer to the desk. The book must be really important for Mickey to be that lost in it.

"Uh...Mickey?" Sora said timidly. He started to wonder just what was in that book to make Mickey so oblivious to everything else around him.

Mickey glanced up over the book before jumping slightly. Sora suddenly appearing in front of him like that startled him. How long had he been standing there before saying anything?

"Oh sorry about that Sora, I didn't hear you come in." Mickey said, placing the book to the side. "I hope you weren't standing there long. I seem to have lost track of time there."

Mickey folded his hand over the other, giving Sora all of his attention. Sora wondered just how often he had lost track of time.

"Oh I haven't been standing here long. I was just wondering…" Sora paused, deciding if it was the right thing to do, bringing all of this up again.

"I was just wondering if you remembered what happened a few weeks ago...with Riku and his treatments?"

Mickey's forehead scrunched together as he thought back on the last few weeks. Nothing really stood out to him as strange. Shaking his head, he looked at Sora.

"I'm sorry Sora, I don't remember anything having to do with his treatments. Why has something happened to Riku during his treatment?"

Sora shook his head. Nothing out of the usual has happen. Sadly Riku was losing a bunch of weight again, and his strength has disappeared. Mickey had suggested putting Riku in a wheelchair, which Riku had flat out rejected. He was getting bad again.

"No, nothing like that. But do you remember Riku going through two straight days of his treatments?" Sora asked, hesitant to continue the conversation. It seemed that he and Riku were the only ones to remember that horrible day.

Mickey shook his head adamantly.  
"No Sora, why would we do that to him. Having him undergo these many hours already are pushing his body to the extreme. Why would we making him go through two full days of it?"

Sora could hardly believe what he was hearing. Neither Kairi or Mickey remembered anything. It didn't make sense. Why did he remember everything while they forgot everything. He shook his head. He couldn't think of any way that they could have forgotten everything.

"Sora, what's going on?" Mickey asked, worried by the look on Sora's face.

"To be honest Mickey, I was hoping that you could help me figure things out."

Mickey cocked his head to the side. He couldn't figure out where Sora was going with this. Had something happened that he wasn't aware of?

"Two weeks ago, when Riku and I came back from our little outing, you took Riku back into the castle for his light treatment. That was the last time I saw Riku for two days since I was kept out of the castle by you and Kairi. I was told that my training times were doubled as was my study time. Which were held outside of the castle on your request. I didn't question it because frankly I didn't have the time to worry about it." Sora said, taking a seat in front of Mickey's desk.

"So when I was finally allowed back into the castle, dinner was held. And everyone was about halfway through their meals when I saw that

Riku wasn't there. I spoke up and asked you guys if you had seen him. No one answered me besides the Queen." Sora paused he knew that the King would take kindly to what he was going to tell him.

"She told me that you and Kairi decided that Riku needed to have extended time in the tower. She told me that he had been up there for two days, and no one had checked on him in that time.."

Mickey gapped at Sora, he or Kairi would never do that to Riku. They all had witnessed what they thought was Riku's death. They knew that they had to go easy on him unless they wanted to have a repeat of what happened before.

"S-sora I have to say that I would never do something like that to Riku!" Mickey said. "I have no memory of ever doing something like that."

Sora nodded in understanding, now things were getting really freaky. No one remembered what had happened.

"I know you wouldn't Mickey, but I am not lying about this. It happened, yet you and Kairi don't remember any of this."

"I know you aren't lying Sora. I am just bothered by the fact that you say that neither Kairi nor I remember this incident." Mickey said.

He knew just how strong and gifted someone had to be with magic to mess with someone's memories. And the only one he knew of that could to that was Namine, but she was out of the picture. Mickey thought hard about that day.

He remembered taking Riku up to the tower when he and Sora made it back. That memory was clear as day, as was when he went up to get Riku. Suddenly his memory was starting to get fuzzy. He stranded to remember going to shut of the light orbs, then he remembered someone grabbing his hand. Stopping him from turning off the orbs.

Something was said, and then darkness. He could remember no more after that day. Nor could he remember anything of the day after. The same day Sora claimed that all of this happened.

Sora was going to say something, but Mickey looked deep in thought. He thought that maybe he remembered something.

"Darkness." Mickey suddenly said. "I remember going up to the tower to get Riku after his treatment time was over. Yet someone stopped me from turning off the orbs. Then darkness. I can't remember anything after that."

The weight of Mickey's words fell heavy on them both. Someone had made sure that Riku had gone through those two days without interruptions. They just needed to know who was behind it and just what were their motives behind making Riku go through that.

"Come, let's talk to Kairi. Maybe if she can concentrate on that day she may come to remember something similar." Mickey said before hurrying out of the room, Sora hot on his heels.

They headed back to the library and spoke to Kairi once again. It took some time, but after some magical help from Mickey, Kairi came to the same memory. Her going up to the tower to get Riku, her trying to turn of the orbs only to be stopped by someone. In contrast to Mickey she could remember some of what was said.

"It was along the lines of he isn't weak enough.." Kairi looked at Sora and Mickey, worried filled her to the core. "What does that mean?"

Mickey shook his head. Who would want Riku weaker? He couldn't think of anyone in the castle that would want Riku to get any weaker. They all cared about him, and wished for him to get better. But if someone in the castle was out to get Riku, then that meant they all had to watch their backs. Still he couldn't think of a reason why whoever was behind this would want him weaker. Even in a weakened state Riku would be able to call upon his darkness to protect himself. He would still be hard to handle by themselves.

Mickey looked at Sora.

"Where is Riku right now?" He didn't want him alone any longer.

"Sleeping in my room right now." Sora said, drawing strange looks from both Kairi and Mickey. Why wasn't Riku sleeping in his own room?

Sora felt a blush creep across his face, he had neglected to tell either of them of the kiss that the two of them had shared. And he was not going to tell them that that kiss hadn't been the last that they had shared.

He didn't have to explain himself since Mickey nodded.

"Good, if whoever is against Riku is looking for him will probably be staking out his room. I think from now on it will be best for someone to always be with Riku. It is not safe for him to be alone with someone here in the castle that wishes to cause harm to him."

"I'll do it!" Sora said, immediately volunteering for the job. They were already together all of the time now, so why change it.

"Good." Mickey said. "Now I want you two to watch your backs and keep on alert for anyone acting strange around Riku. This is the absolute last thing Riku needs to worry about."

"And what if we see something? Should we confront them?" Kairi asked.

"No. Even with being Keyblade wielders I do not think you two are strong enough to deal with someone like that. It takes great strength and wisdom to be able to manipulate with someone's memories." Mickey said.

They all knew how strong Namine was, but she was different. That was her gift, she didn't have to learn how to do anything. For someone to learn how to mess with memories was someone that even Mickey was hesitant to take on.

From that day on Kairi, Sora and Mickey spent the next few months watching everyone that got close to Riku. The original plan was to not tell Riku what had happened, but true to what Sora had told them, he was able to find out. Somehow they were able to convince him to only focus on getting better. Well Sora was the one that really convinced Riku to focus on getting better. A few kisses always did the trick.

For the next few months life in the castle went smooth. Whoever it was that tried to sabotage Riku had yet to make any other moves. Either they were waiting, biding their time until they could strike. Or they had caught wind that they knew what they were trying to do and decided to give up on their quest to harm Riku.

Today it was Kairi's turn to get Riku from his light treatments. They kept a rotation on who would get Riku incase that person was watching them in return.

Kairi turned off the orbs and went over to Riku, his back facing her. He always needed help getting up after his treatments. She put her hand on Riku's shoulder.

"Alright, another treatment done!" Kairi smiled. She was trying to be positive with his treatments but no one could deny how bad Riku was.

Riku didn't move. He didn't even seem to hear Kairi, he was still.

"Bad day today Riku?" Kairi asked softly, sitting beside him. "It's okay we can just sit here for a little bit. I don't mind."

Riku gently put his hand over Kairi's, it was his way of showing her that he had heard her. Softly, almost inaudibly Riku said something.

Kairi leaned down closer to him, trying to hear what he was saying. He seemed to be repeating himself, yet Kairi couldn't hear him. Suddenly Riku's hand clamped down hard on Kairi's hand. Kairi jumped off the bed in fright, trying to pull her hand out of his grasp.

Her breath quickened, should she call for help? Nothing like this had happened before. She could still hear him mumbling something. Get out? Was that what he was saying? Still she struggled to pull herself free. Riku slowly sat up. He moved so fluidly that it didn't seem natural. Riku turned to her, his eye's glowing yellow.

Kairi wanted to scream out, but she was stuck there. Petrified of the look in Riku's eyes. She lips wouldn't move. The cry was stuck in her throat, yet it wouldn't make it past her lip.

"You girl are going to go to the Cornerstone of Light." Riku said, holding out his other hand which was covered in darkness.

Kairi watched as the darkness in his hand solidified into something that resembled a worm. Riku roughly turned Kairi's hand so that her palm was facing up.

"You are going to put this in the Cornerstone for me. This body is finally weak enough, I no longer need it. But for me to leave it, the Cornerstone must be out of the picture." Riku said, his voice getting more and more distorted.

Kairi whimpered as she tried to pull her hand back again. But Riku's iron grip prevented her from doing so. Riku put the worm on the center of Kairi's hand, she fought frantically now to get away. The worm sunk below her skin and Kairi lost the will to fight. Her shoulders sunk, her eyes went vacant. Riku grinned and stood, he circled her like a predator.

"Go to the Cornerstone of Light and put that worm inside of it." Riku said.

Kairi's body jerked slightly but she walked to the door.

"Hurry! The worm will not last long inside of her! She needs to get down there before it is destroyed by her light!" Riku ordered and Kairi was jogging out of the room.

Riku suddenly felt tired, and he looked around the room. When had the orbs been shut off? Who had shut the orbs off? He shrugged and put on a clean pair of clothes and by the time he was halfway down the stairs he met up with Sora.

Sora smiled wide when he saw Riku going down the stairs, he must have had a good day. Yet he was still too pale and skinny for all of Sora's worries to be washed away.

"Hey! I was just coming up to help Kairi get you up!" Sora said before kissing Riku on the cheek.

Riku smiled, but he was confused. He didn't remember Kairi coming into the room and get him up. But she must have since all of the orbs were off.

"Yeah," Riku said, unsure of himself. "Well I'm walking so thats a good sign."

Sora nodded and grabbed Riku's hand.

"The King wants to see us in his office."

Riku groaned, all he wanted to do now was shower and rest. What did the King want with them now?

Sora giggled at Riku's reaction. He had tried to convince Mickey to wait a few hours after Riku was finished with his treatment but he couldn't convince him otherwise.

"I know, but the sooner we get it done the sooner you can rest." Sora said. "Now come on, we don't want to keep him waiting."

They headed to Mickey's office. Unaware that Kairi was still heading straight for the Cornerstone of Light. It wasn't longer before they were in Mickey's office. When they walked in Mickey greeted them with a smile.

"I'm glad you both could make it. And I'll make it short so you can rest Riku. It seems that whoever tried to sabotage you Riku has yet to do anything for some time."

Kairi pushed open the large door that held the Cornerstone behind it. As if in a daze she walked over to the Cornerstone, her movements jerky. Soon the mission would be complete.

"I have talked to all my staff here, and I can say with certainty that none of them were behind the memory manipulation of myself and Kairi." Mickey said.

Sora's heart fell, they were no closer to catching the person who did this now then they were a month ago. And now they had no lead.

"Well then what does that mean? Could they have left the castle when they found out that you were talking to everyone?" Sora asked.

Mickey nodded, that was what he was hoping had happened.

"That is a very good possibility that they have left the castle, yes. But there is no way to be sure."

Kairi was now standing in front of the Cornerstone, no one had stopped her. And now no one will be able too. She raised her hand, the one the worm had sunk under and pressed it against the Cornerstone. The worm sunk into the Cornerstone of Light and exploded inside.

The whole castle shook as the Cornerstone of Light failed. Mickey and the others looked around the room, trying to locate the sound of the explosion. Mickey's heart dropped when he realised what it was.

"The Cornerstone of Light! It's failed!" Mickey exclaimed.

Riku and Sora looked at each other. That wasn't good, nothing was suppose to be able to get into the castle let alone get to the Cornerstone of Light.

Another rumble was heard and Darkness cover the room and a laugh echoed around the room. Seeming to bounce off of every wall. Mickey and Sora both summoned their keyblades, ready for an attack.

Riku's body convulsed as his chest exploded in pain. He cried out and fell to his knees. Riku clutched his chest, the pain was blinding. He barely heard Sora calling out to him. Sora dropped his keyblade as he held Riku.

"My...heart…" Riku grunted. He didn't have a good feeling about what was going to happen next.

The darkness sunk into one shadow on the far wall and Mickey jumped in front of the two. The two watched the shadow closely, waiting for it too move.

Sora's heart was racing as he held on tight to Riku. He wasn't going to let anyone take Riku away from him. Somehow he was able to get Riku to stand, and he saw Riku's chest sparking.

"Riku...I-" Sora started to say, but the shadow disappeared. They looked around the room, but the shadow was gone. Riku looked at Sora, waiting to finish his important statement.

Sora relaxed slightly, suddenly a wet ripping and tearing sound could be heard beside him. Riku went stiff.

As if in slow motion Sora looked to Riku, and saw The Keyblades of Hearts sticking out of Riku's chest. The look of shock and disbelief on Riku's face would be burned into Sora's memory forever. Sora followed the Keyblade back until he saw the person holding it.

Maleficent.

Sora's breath caught, none of this could be happening. None of this could be happening. Maleficent couldn't be back and Riku didn't have the Keyblade of Hearts sticking out of his chest. No none of this was real.

Maleficent grinned when Riku's heart slowly lifted up into the air.

"Your part is done boy, I no longer need you as a host."

Maleficent reached for Riku's heart, there was just one thing left to do. Sora realized what she was going to do and reached for Riku's heart. But it was too late, Maleficent's long fingers curled around Riku's heart. With no force whatsoever, she crushed his heart in between her fingers. Riku let out a deathly cry, hold onto Sora with every ounce of his being. The shattered remains of his heart twinkled out of existence. Maleficent ripped the Keyblade out of Riku's chest and Riku crumbled to the ground, no longer able to hold onto Sora.

Sora felt tears swell up in his eyes before spilling over as he watched Riku fall. No…

Mickey seemed to snap back into himself and swiped his Keyblade at Maleficent. She merely laughed, sparing Riku and Sora one last glance before disappearing.

Sora fell to his knees beside Riku and cried as blood stained Riku's clothes and the floor.

"No! No Riku!" Sora cried, putting pressure on the hole in Riku's chest. Sora felt his whole world crashing down on him. Riku was dieing. He couldn't die not after all they had been through and not when they had just finally gotten together.

Riku could only look at Sora, he felt so much love for him that he would never be able to give Sora. It was too late. Somewhere in the distance he heard Mickey cast a Curaga, but it couldn't help him now.

"Sora…" Riku said softly, gaining Sora's attention. Even though Sora was crying, he was still beautiful in Riku's eyes.

"I love you."

Riku went limp against Sora and Sora stared down at Riku, slowly taking in his confession. Sora gathered Riku in his arms and held him close. Riku couldn't just say that and leave him.

"R-riku…" Sora whispered, the only thing Riku did was stare back at him, unseeing.

Sora rested his head on Riku's chest and let out a long and painful wail. He had finally broke. Sora gently rocked he and Riku back and forth as he cried.

The door opened and Kairi and the Queen rushed in only to stop dead in their tracks when they saw Riku and Sora. Kairi's eyes filled with tears, she never thought she would see something like this happen.

Sora's wails never ceased, they only grew louder. Everyone's heart went out to the two boys. Yet they knew that this was something that Sora would never be able to get over.

Riku's body slowly started to glow and a bunch of tiny glowing orbs started to rise to the sky. Riku was disappearing.

"No! No Riku don't leave! Don't leave me!" Sora cried out as Riku's body began to disappear.

Minnie hid her face in Mickey's shoulder, while Kairi could only look away. She couldn't watch this any longer.

In a few moments Riku was gone despite Sora's desperate plea for Riku to stay. Soon only empty air filled Sora's arms.

Mickey slowly approached Sora who was just staring at his empty arms.

"Sora...I think you should get cleaned up…" Mickey said, his voice wavering as he too fought back tears.

Mickey ended up having to make Sora stand and personally escort him to the bath. Where healers, after being told what happened by Mickey, had to bath him. Sora never protested as the healers cleaned him. They let him walk himself back to his room. He didn't walk to his room though, he found himself outside of Riku's room. Fresh tears streamed down his face as he walked in. Some of Riku's clothes were scattered around the floor, he couldn't bring himself to move them. He moved to Riku's bed.

He remembered the nights he spent here, and how they would just talk. Enwrapped in each other's presence and know that they were both there and safe. Sora's body racked with sobs as he fell onto the bed. It smelled so much of Riku, and he took as much of it in as he could. It wouldn't be around much longer. Sora pulled the covers up around him surrounding himself with Riku's smell. It was like he was here. Yet Sora knew that wasn't true. It could never come true.

There Sora laid for the rest of the day, crying as his mind was focused on one thing.

Riku.

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Well...now everyone knows who was behind Riku's pain. Please leave a review, thank you.


	17. Chapter 17

Hello everyone yes I know once again this is up late. I'm sorry time seems to be getting away from me a lot more now. I don't know why. Anyways, thank you to SoraKairiRikuNamine for leaving a review, yes I'm sorry Riku is gone! Sorry and I'm glad you are enjoying the story!

Thank you to 97kingdomwolf for following this story I hope you are enjoying it!

Enjoy and please leave a review if you are enjoying this story!

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A week has passed since Riku's death. Everyone had been rocked by the death of another Keyblade wielder, one that had fought with the darkness then turned his back on it. Learning to embrace it and use it in the name of light. Not many could hold that title and now there was one less who could.

Communication through the light crystals made the information of Riku's passing spread quickly through the worlds.

Many mourned Riku's passing, gifts were sent in from every world. Even those who Riku betrayed during his time with Maleficent expressed their sorrow. They knew the sacrifices he had made and the lengths he went to right the wrongs he committed. Not many still held anything against Riku. He was still a hero to them.

The castle was on full lockdown until the Cornerstone could be fully restored. Anyone that could fight was either outside patrolling the grounds or inside the castle walking the halls. Those strong in light magic and old magical items were also brought in to help speed up the restoration process of the Cornerstone. Donald and Goofy had also been called back from their missions. Donald was assigned to the restoration group while Goofy joined the defense group. The two wanted to see Sora again before beginning their work, but Mickey denied them, well more like Sora denied them. No one had been allowed into Riku's, now Sora's, room since that day. Nor has Sora left that room.

Meals had to be brought to the room, as did fresh clothes and towels. Whenever anything was brought to the room Sora would silently open the door and just a quietly shut it. Some have taken peeks inside the room when Sora opened the door and they would report back saying that much of the food had gone untouched. Sora was living from that room. Guards that walk that hall have reported that there were nights that they believed that Sora wasn't sleeping. All they could hear was him crying. They too were beginning to worry about him, afraid that Sora could never find his way back to himself.

Yet they didn't know the whole story of the day that Riku died. No one but Sora and Mickey knew what was said with Riku's last breath. His final and heavy confession to Sora. No one knew the full extent of the burden that sat heavy on Sora's shoulders.

Three days after Riku's death Kairi went to see Sora. She was tired of being alone and dealing with this on her own. She was strong but not strong enough to deal with something this big. Kairi stood outside of Riku's old room.

She had tried to avoid this room, the memories were too raw, emotions too close to the surface. She too had locked herself away from the world and away from the grief and pity filled eyes. Kairi could only take so much of the looks when she would, however brief, take a step outside of her room. She knew what they were thinking and what they wanted to tell her, but no matter what was said nothing was going to take away the hurt.

Still she raised her hand and knocked lightly on the door, almost afraid to ruin it in some manner. Sora did not come to the door and Kairi knew why. She could hear him crying from inside the room. Kairi would also cry if she had any tears left, those dried up only meir hours ago. All she had left was the sadness that came with loss. Kairi knocked once more and when she received no answer she turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked and gently did she push it open.

There on the bed did she find Sora, curled up underneath Riku's blankets. She didn't expect to find him anywhere else.

Kairi looked around the darkened room, no lights had been turned on. The only light came from the hallway that filtered in from the still open door. Enough light filled the room that she could see plates of uneaten food and still filled glasses. Her heart twinged at the similarities between Riku and Sora, it seemed that neither would eat when they were upset or sick. She could only hope that Sora would not require the amount of healers that Riku once did. Still she moved to the bed. She didn't know what to say or even where to begin.

Kairi knew how many people had asked him if he was okay and how he was doing. She would be a fool to think that she was going to get any sort of different response. But there she sat beside Sora, only able to look at him. Or of what she could see. Sora was lying mainly on his stomach his face buried in the pillows and the blanket pull far up so that only the top of his head could be seen.

"Sora," She said just above a whisper that she even wondered if she had said it outloud or only inside her head. Sora's sobs seemed to subside for a moment, only to pick up once again.

Kairi put her hand on Sora's hip, trying without words to get his attention. Eventually they would have to talk about this, someone would be brave or idiotic enough to ask them. She was at a loss of how to comfort Sora, never had either of them gone through this. So she went with what her heart was telling her.

"I remember when we all first became friends." Kairi began smiling softly at the memory. "My grandmother took me to the beach for the first time. I wanted to see the ocean so bad, to be able to hear the sounds of the waves crashing, to put my feet in the sand. I wanted to do all of that. But when we got to the beach I was suddenly so scared. I remember thinking what would happen if it wasn't what I thought it was like. What if it didn't live up to what I had in my head."

Sora's cries seemed to have lost some of their intensity. Kairi started to wonder if she was helping him.

"When I first walked onto the beach I looked around, in awe of how big everything was and how small I felt. The ocean looked like it went on forever as did the beach. I was ready to tell my grandmother to take me home when I heard some boys laughing. And then I saw you and Riku." Kairi couldn't help but smile widely. She could remember how great it felt to see someone else her age laughing freely on the never ended beach.

"And I thought, if you guys could have fun and play on the beach without fear of how small you felt then I could too. My gran saw me looking at you and Riku so she pushed me over to you two telling me to play with you guys. I was so nervous that you guys wouldn't like me or think I was weird. But when you started talking to me and asked me to play all my fears went away. I felt like I finally found where I belonged."

With her story told she felt silent, letting her words hang in the air. Sora also remembered that day. It wasn't like he would forget meeting one of his friends. Kairi sat there a little while longer in the silence. Maybe Sora still needed more time before he could talk about memories of Riku. So she moved off of the bed, deciding to give him more time alone.

"I remember that day too," Sora said when Kairi was about out of the door.

Kairi quickly turned around and saw Sora sitting up, his hair more of a mess than what she thought could possibly happen. She hurried back over to the bed where they spent the next few hours talking about the times and memories of when they were younger.

Somehow in the span of a few hours Kairi had gotten Sora to eat a full meal, which she made sure he ate everything not leaving even a crumb. And had somehow convinced him to take a shower. While Sora was redressing in a separate room, which she didn't quite know where Sora had gotten extra clothes from, a question bubbled up her throat and sat heavy like lead in her mouth.

"What happened before I go to the room? The day Riku died." Kairi blurted out before she could stop herself.

The shuffling of Sora getting ready stopped momentarily before continuing. The light airy feeling in the room was knocked out by a dark and heavy one. Kairi knew she shouldn't have asked, but she just knew more had occurred that what everyone was being told. Slowly Sora came back into the room, dressed in one of Riku's black zip up shirts and some of his own pants. The shirt of course was way too big on him but Kairi wouldn't say anything else, she knew that she had messed up by asking that question.

Sora took a shaky breath, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes but he held them in for now.

"Mickey told you everything that happened that day. You know everything that happened." Sora said tightly. Talking about the past was one thing but talking about _that_ was something different entirely.

Kairi knew what the King told them but someone else happened. The way Mickey acted when others would ask what Riku had said before he died just felt forced. Like he was hiding something big, something private. She knew she shouldn't be asking about it, but she just wanted to know. Maybe if she knew she could find a better way to help Sora. And she was a Princess of Light of goodness sake, she knew when things dealt with someone's heart.

"Sora I know it's hard to talk about but maybe if I knew what was said I could help you in a better way." Kairi said, slightly pressuring Sora into talking.

Sora felt fury bubble up in his stomach. He knew he shouldn't be mad at her, she was just trying to help him. Suddenly all of his anger just faded away. Tears that he had held back fell and the painful memory played once again in his mind. Riku staring up at him, his eyes focused on him and yet on something far away from that room. Sora could vividly remember how Riku was shaking as he held him, how strong the smell of Riku's blood. How still Riku became as he spoke for the last time.

"He said he loved me." Sora choked out, falling to his knees as he shook with sobs. "And I loved him too!"

Kairi sat there stunned by the confession. It felt like ice water was dumped into her very core. Yes she had strong feelings for Sora but she would never admit them now. Nor would she want to add to his burdon. Slowly almost like a machine she moved to Sora and too fell to her knees. She wrapped him in a hug, her chin resting on his head. She too cried, not only for her own sadness of never being able to tell Sora how she felt but she cried for both Sora and Riku. For them to be both in love and to have one ripped away from the other before either could share their feelings fully.

 ** _That weekend_**

Sora had finally felt good enough to walk out of Riku's room and walk the castle again. The guards and workers that passed him would stare at him, their concern for him written plainly across their faces. Sora did his best to ignore them and not run back into Riku's room and hide away once again. Sora was walking around the castle when he saw a familiar face walking towards him.

"Cloud? What are you doing here!?" Sora exclaimed. What would Cloud be doing here? He was sure that they had enough guards walking around the castle to be safe.

"Hey, Sora." Cloud said. He hadn't changed from the last time Sora had seen him. Except Clouds outfit had changed. Now he was wearing something simple instead of his other slightly obnoxious outfit. He wore a dark blue knitted sleeveless turtleneck with a large belt and leather suspenders over it and plain black pants. Cloud's sword was still anchored onto his back.

"I was actually going to see you. The King felt that I was somehow a good person for you to talk to." Cloud said. Sora knew that this talk was going to be different than the few talks they had shared before.

"Well the only place we can really talk in private is the garden." Sora said before leading the way. Sora's mind filled with questions of how Cloud could help him. Sora may be dense but he knew what the King wanted him to talk about. Sora really didn't know much about Cloud and his life before they met. Who could have Cloud lost that would make him a good person for him to talk to?

When they reached the garden Sora turned to Cloud, waiting for him to speak. Sora didn't know what to say, how could he? He didn't know how much Cloud knew or didn't know. Sora didn't want to say the wrong thing and then have to explain something else entirely. He didn't have the energy for that.

"Zack was my lover." Cloud stated bluntly, taking Sora by surprise. He had always seen Cloud as a ladies man, he never took Cloud for being with a guy. But that made this entire conversation easier.

"He was the best person I had ever met. So full of light and joy, so full of life. He lived everyday like it was the last, doing everything he could so someone else could have it easier. That's what made me fall for him. We were together for a year before he died."

Cloud paused, and Sora assumed that Could was remembering that day. He knew that feeling all too well. So he waited patiently until Cloud spoke again.

"We were wanted by Shinra, they wanted us both alive so at first we were given the option to surrender and let them take us in. But we couldn't let that happen. We knew that if we did it wouldn't end well. So Zack and I fought. we were able to get away but were soon ambushed. I was suffering from mako poisoning, and couldn't take much more so Zack hid me away from the fight. He stupidly went out and fought them...he didn't make it."

Cloud said darkly, still upset by Zacks decision to go and fight on his own.

"I watched him die. And I couldn't do anything to save him, and that is my biggest regret in life was not being able to save him." Cloud quickly brushed away a tear that rolled down his cheek.

Sora, eye's wide, nodded at Clouds story. Now he understood why the King wanted Cloud to talk to him. Cloud went through, or is still going through the same pain he is currently dealing with.

"I guess what I am trying to say Sora is that I know what you are going through. Losing someone you love is the second most hardest thing to go through."

Sora blinked in confusion, Cloud said it was the second hardest thing to do. That didn't make sense to him.

"Wait if losing someone is the second most hardest thing to go through, then what is the first?" Sora asked, suddenly feeling like a little kid.

Cloud smirked at the question.

"Telling them that you love them. Having that conversation is the hardest thing to go through."

Sora looked down, he really hadn't gone through that conversation yet. Not really. Riku just said it to him and he didn't even have time to respond. Sora too had to brush away tears as he thought about that moment once again.

Cloud studied him for a moment, "Are you wearing one of Riku's shirts?"

Sora flushed red for a second before he answered.

"Yes...you don't think it's weird do you?"

Cloud laughed, I mean he actually laughed. Sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had never heard Cloud laugh before, heck he had never seen him really smile. And now he was doing both!

"Well if I did think it was weird then I would be a hypocrite. You see this was one of Zack's shirts." Cloud said, gesturing to the shirt he was wearing. "Somedays are easier than others to get through, but on those bad days you need a little extra help. So I wear one of his shirts so it reminds me that he isn't completely gone. He'll always be in one place that no one can ever take."

Sora tilted his head at Cloud's statement.

"Where?"

"Here." Cloud said, pointing at Sora's heart. "Someone can take away your memories, take away pictures even clothes. But your heart never forgets anything."

A muffled voice broke the happy mood. Sora look at Cloud, seeing that it was coming from his direction. Cloud frowned in confusion before pulling out the light crystal from his pocket. The voice that belonged to a women became clear.

"Is this thing working? I hope so. If anyone can hear this this is Alice from Wonderland. We have a problem. Wonderland is falling. Requesting immediate help. Be warned, things aren't the same in Wonderland anymore." Alice said before the connection was cut off.

Cloud and Sora both looked at each other before darting back into the castle, both nearly running into Kairi and Mickey as the rounded a corner.

"I take it that you both got Alice's message?" Mickey said in a rush.

Both Cloud and Sora nodded.

"If Wonderland is falling then that means the Heartless are finally attacking and we all know who is behind this." Mickey said. "Wonderland is only the beginning. If it falls, it won't be the first nor the last. Now hurry."

Mickey said, making a Corridor of Light appear.

"Protecting Alice is the most important thing. Do not let the Heartless get to her. We can not let any Princesses die."

And with that loaded mission Cloud, Sora and Kairi raced through the Corridor.

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btw who enjoyed the little Clack I snuck in there? I know I did. Anyways thanks for reading and please leave a review!


	18. Chapter 18

Yes I finally updated. Let me just say that these last couple weeks have been busy. Got back from con, got con flu. Helped my dad with the car. Got put on weight loss pills cause apparently I need to lose weight and some side effects of the medication are anxiety/hyperactivity, perfect thing for writing. Concentration problems, great for writing. And sleeping problems. Wonderful. Also my laptop charger decides to stop working, so I order another one to find out that it doesn't work. Come to find out that its not the charger that's the problem, its the charging port itself that's bad. So yeah busy.

Anyways onto the happy stuff.

Thank you to v.t.7 for leaving reviews! I feel you on the school thing, and even though you don't enjoy the pairing I'm so happy that you keep reading! Thank you for being able to over look the paring and enjoy the story! And I wish I could say that I was sorry that I made you cry...but I can't because at least someone else besides me cried while reading it! Some background info on this story, the first idea I had of this story was Riku dying like that. I formed the rest of the story around that idea. And I did watch a little bit of TMNT but I don't think I saw that episode. And Sora will still have some moments of slipping back into the stages of grief here and there, once some of the action dies down. Trust me, I'm horrible to characters. Also you make me blush every time you review.

Enjoy!

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Alice wasn't lying when she said that Wonderland had changed. She only failed to say _how_ much it had changed. The moment the trio stepped out of the portal the putrid smell of pollution and waste hit them like a train. Never had Wonderland smelled this rotten.

Sora and Kairi gagged at the smell, eye's watering as their food threatened to force itself up their throats. Cloud seemed the least affected out of the group only needing to cover his nose and mouth. Sora managed to wipe the tears from his eyes long enough to look around.

It was a scene like no other. The bright and colorful Wonderland was gone. No green grass or odd giant brightly colored flowers could be seen. Scorched and crumbling remains of buildings surrounded them. The fire that had destroyed this part of Wonderland could be seen in this distance. The new victim of the fire was what appeared to be a castle which burned brightly against the dull gray sky.

Sora was at a loss for words at what Wonderland had become. If he had come to this world not knowing what it was he would have never been able to guess that it was Wonderland. Cloud stepped forward, his hand fell from his face. A wet squish broke the stagnate silence around them. He grimaced as he looked down at his feet. An oil like ooze coated the bottom of his shoe, seeming to cling to it even as Cloud flicked his foot in the effort to free his shoe from the filth.

"Reminds me of Midgar before it fell." Cloud said, walking the area around them. The ooze poured out of the burnt buildings and seep up from the ground below them. "Wonderland is in deep trouble if it is already at this state."

Kairi, finally used to the smell, stood next to Sora.

"What does that mean for Wonderland?" The slight tremor in her voice gave away her uncertainty.

"It means if we have less time than what we thought. If we don't find Alice and get Wonderland back into the light soon this world is as good as dead." Cloud said, pulling out his sword.

"Let's move. I'm sure we are not alone."

So the three trekked on, on guard with weapons in hand. They passed through the remains of the town which was starting to remind Kairi and Sora of 17th century London.

More and more burnt buildings passed them as they walked down the cobbled road. The three saw no signs of life as they traveled through the town. No papers, no furniture, not even any sort of personal belongings could be found in the rubble.

Kairi kept her eyes glued to the buildings, she could almost feel eye's watching them. So focused on an enemy she couldn't see, she lost her balance and tumbled the remains of a building.

"You okay Kairi?" Sora asked, suddenly in front of her, his hand extended out to her.

Kairi nodded and graciously took his hand as she stood.

"Thanks Sora." Kairi said as she brushed the dirt off of herself. She noticed something about the shallow indentation she fell into. Standing on the outside of the pit she took in all of what she saw.

"It's a footprint." Kairi said in disbelief.

Cloud, who had been standing watch fell in behind the two keyblade wielders.

"What do you think made this?" Kairi asked, imagining the height one would have to be to create a footprint this large.

"I have no idea." Sora said giving a slight shrug. "Heartless don't leave footprints."

"Last time I saw a print this big was when I fought a Behemoth." Cloud said offhandedly.

"Well whatever it was it looks like it was heading that way." Sora said, pointing to the burning castle in the distance. He walked through the crumbling house and looked around trying to find any other footprints. It wasn't easy due to the state of the buildings around them but he managed to spot another.

"Hey, there is another one. It seems that whatever made this was definitely heading to the castle. Maybe Alice was there too." Sora pointed out before jogging softly to the other footprint. Cloud and Kairi reluctantly followed behind him.

To follow the footprints wasn't an easy task since all the buildings were a crumbling mess. The buildings creaked and popped as if threatening to fall on top of them if the wind would blow hard enough. Cloud and Kairi could swear that they were hearing a deep rumbling off in the distance. Yet Sora would deny to hearing anything. He was too focused on following the footprints.

As far as the others were concerned they should be heading in the opposite direction of them. They really didn't feel the need to find out just what caused them. They had yet to see any proof that the Princess was anywhere near where they were heading. But Sora was stubborn and wouldn't listen to any concern they had.

Soon the burning castle loomed over them as the footprints ended. Whatever had made them seemed to have disappear in front of the castle. Deep grooves were carved out of the land around them as if something had drove through the land.

A distance rumble could be heard once again.

"Well this is where they stop…" Sora said, seeming disappointed by the fact.

Kairi nodded, eyes constantly scanning the area around them. She swore that she could feel something moving.

"Let's spread out. Maybe we will find something that will either lead us to Alice or prove that she was here." Cloud ordered.

The three set out on their own, going through what appeared to be a battle field. Searching for what felt like hours yielded nothing in return. Cloud and Kairi met up again as they neared the castle. The two agreed that following the footprints had set them back in their mission to find Alice.

"Unless you found something Sora, following these footprints has got us nothing." Cloud said when they returned to the castle.

Sora, the one who started this whole goose chase, ignored them. He seemed to be focusing on something else.

Kairi nodded, her hands clenching and unclenching around the hilt of her keyblade.

"Cloud is right Sora, we've wasted enough time following these footprints and got nothing from them. We need to find Alice before the world falls, and falls with us still in it."

Sora acted as if he hadn't heard a thing Cloud or Kairi said. To be honest he probably hadn't. The fire raged loudly in front him as he walked closer to the castle. Through the flames and smoke Sora saw something laying in the fire. He couldn't tell if it was human or not.

"Sora what are you doing?" Kairi shouted as she watched Sora walk closer to the flames. "That building could collapse at anytime!"

Sora waved Kairi off, if anything went wrong he could handle himself. It wasn't like he was a defenseless kid anymore. Besides, the closer he got to the flaming castle he could swear he heard a faint scream. It sounded like it was coming from the burning figure. Sora took a step back when the smell of burning flesh assaulted his senses.

"Guys I think there's someone in there!" Sora shouted, pushing himself even closer to the burning heat.

Cloud barely heard the sound of metal and stone breaking above their heads. One of the once elegant towers had finally gave way under the heat, sending it plummeting to the ground.

"Sora! Damn it!" Cloud swore before dashing to Sora. In the short moments Cloud had as he grabbed Sora he could spot the burning figure, he too heard its screams. They were too late for whoever that was. Tapping into the Mako in his blood and blasted away from the castle just as the tower slammed into the ground. Cloud and Sora landed hard and rolled a few feet away from Kairi.

Cloud let go of Sora as his body dealt with the effects of using the Mako in his body. He rolled onto all fours, dry heaving as Kairi checked on Sora.

"What were you doing Sora!? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Kairi scolded.

Sora's eye were still locked onto the castle, onto the burning figure. The last time this happened, he never saw anyone die. Not like this. Now it seemed like that wasn't the case this time.

"Th-There was someone in there...they were still alive! And on fire!" Sora sputtered out. "I could hear them! They were screaming…"

Sora suddenly felt so lost. He didn't have to deal with this before, he didn't know how to handle it. First Riku, now that poor person in the castle, how was anyone able to handle something like this?

The ooze that seemed to constantly flow around them solidified into bulbous baby doll faced creatures in front of them. And what looked like bloody demented playing cards appeared behind them. They were surrounded. Cloud grunted as he stood using his sword to help him up.

"That doesn't matter anymore Sora, they are dead and there is nothing we can do for them now." Cloud said, swinging his sword up, ready to fight. "Right now we need to get out of here!"

Sora and Kairi sprang to their feet, standing back to back behind Cloud. These things weren't Heartless, he had no idea what they were. He vaguely remembered the playing cards, but they were never this distorted. The other must be a new enemy of whatever this Wonderland was.

Sora's eyes danced back and forth between enemies.

"Hey Cloud, you said that Midgar was like this before it fell right?"

"Not exactly like this but close enough. Why." Cloud said, watching the enemies closely.

"Did you ever have enemies like this?" Sora asked, hoping that at least one of them knew how to deal with these enemies.

Cloud shook his head.

"Nope, majority of my enemies were human."

"Alright then how do we want to deal with them?" Kairi asked, keyblade held at the ready.

"Hit them enough and hope that they go down?" Sora suggested. Cloud and Kairi both agreed. At this point that was all they could do.

"On three." Sora said, tightening his hold on his keyblade. This was going to be a very interesting fight. He hoped that someone in the group had a Light Crystal, if this was going to go bad they would need a way out. And fast.

"One."

The enemies seemed to be studying them, trying to pick out the weakest one.

"Two."

Kairi zoned in on her group of enemies. They were going to have to go down and go down fast if the others would need help

.

"Thr-" Sora was cut off by a horse neighing and a girl with dark brown hair, wore an outfit similar to Alice. She rammed into the first group of baby doll faced monster with what looked to be a head of a horse. They disappeared instantly. The remaining card and doll faced monsters ran at them. While it seemed that Sora and Kairi were struggling with the new monsters this new girl and Cloud seemed to breeze through them.

Within minutes the monsters were gone with the help of the girl and Sora had no idea how to thank her. Maybe she could tell him where Alice was, or at least what had happened to Wonderland. The girl brushed her hands off before looking at the group, her hand placed firmly on her hips.

"Well it's about time you got here Sora." The girl said, throwing Sora off. How did this girl know him? He had never seen her before.

"Wait-wait. How do you..?" Sora began, puzzled on just who this girl was.

"As you can tell, Wonderland is not in the same shape it was before. I now know that a certain doctor of mine is behind all of this doom bringing." The girl continued.

"I've been seeing those nasty Heartless all over this place. Which is making it even harder to get rid of these creatures."

Sora took a closer look at the girl. The outfit was definitely like the one Alice wore. And even with the hair being a different color it was the same length. And for her to know who he was and what the heartless were there was no one else she could be.

"Alice?" Sora said, not believing it himself.

Alice looked him square in the face. "Well of course who else would I be? I know I'm going mad but I didn't think you would. I hope that stupid cat didn't do anything to you."

Sora blinked a couple of times, still not believing what he was seeing. What happened to her? When did it happen to her? What was going on?

"Alright Alice. Since you are the Princess from this world just what were those things?" Cloud asked.

Alice looked at him as she talked, even she started to creep Cloud out.

"Nasty thing those are. Little monsters that I apparently created. I don't see how I could have done that. All they do is destroy Wonderland, as you can tell all around us. I suspect that they are the ones responsible for that tower falling off and almost killing you."

She looked back to the burning castle. "I came here hoping that the Queen would be able to help me in ridding Wonderland of the Heartless. Along with some other problems of mine. But she wouldn't listen and it was too late, the train brought the fire here before I could stop it."

Alice started pacing. This wasn't the Alice Sora remembered. The Alice he knew would never hurt a fly. She was just a Princess of Hearts. He had never seen her pick up a weapon, let alone use one.

"Alice, what has happened to Wonderland? Things were never like this before." Sora said.

"Well I believe all of these problems are being caused by that horrid doctor of mine." Alice said, her voice filled with enough venom to kill.

"What doctor? I thought doctors were suppose to help you get better. And how could he cause all of this?" Kairi asked. She only met Alice briefly when all the Princesses regained their hearts. But she was nothing like this.

"That is the part that is eluding me. It must be the Darkness." Alice said.

The ground shook violently under them. Giant cracks were forming around them, the ground pulling itself apart to reveal a black void below.

"Alice! What's going on?" Sora shouted. He had never been on a world when it completely fell. Destiny Island was different. He was gone before it completely fell.

"It's that train! It's destroying Wonderland, killing it and I still haven't found a way to stop it." Alice said, acting like it made perfect sense.

The castle in front of them finally collapsed in on itself as the ground shook. Pieces of the ground fell into the void, taking the castle with it.

"Hold on tight!" Alice shouted managing to grab onto the trio. There was a burst of light and suddenly the polluted air was gone only to be replace by another less potent polluted air.

Sora groaned as he sat up. He took in the area, expecting to be still in Wonderland. Yet his hopes were dashed when he saw cell bars. He looked over at Cloud and Kairi who's outfits had changed. Cloud's pants had stayed the same but his shirt was replaced with a dirty white striped shirt. A small cap also rested beside his head. Kairi's dress seemed to mimic Alice's new dress. Instead of a gray dress with gray strips like Alice, hers was a dull pink and pink strips. The others were up in no time.

Cloud and Kairi both seemed to freak a little when they saw their new outfits. They had no idea how their clothes were able to change like that. Sora couldn't help but chuckle at their reactions. Looking down he saw that his pants had changed into overall, while his shirt was like Clouds and his jacket was just a tattered piece of black cloth.

Alice jiggled the bars.

"Drat, locked." She said, looking around for the guards. Even though the thought of three people just appearing out of nowhere didn't seem all that mad to her. She didn't think the guards would overlook the fact that she was put here alone and suddenly three more people were in her cell.

"That's not a problem for me!" Sora grinned summoning his keyblade and pointing it at the door. A small beam of light shot out and a soft was heard. The cell door swung open with a small creek.

Alice stepped out first, making sure that the halls were empty before she let the others know that they were safe to come out. The three stepped out of the cell and quickly followed Alice, who was half way down the hall. Kairi and Sora felt like stepped back in time as they stepped into the outside worlds. Old buildings and equipment surrounded them. People that passed them were wearing clothes that they had seen in a museum.

"Alice where are we?" Sora asked.

"More like when are we." Kairi said, which Sora swiftly agreed with.

Alice gave them an odd look as she marched ahead of everyone. For being short Alice was a fast walker.

"We are in London of course! Where else would we be?'' Alice said matter of factly. "And to answer your other question, the year is 1875. Not much time has passed since our previous encounter. Yet much has changed in such little time."

"I can tell. Maybe we can find a place to talk and you can tell us what has happened. We don't have much time to save Wonderland." Sora said.

"We don't need to find a place to talk, no one around here cares what you have to say. They only care if you have money, otherwise they'll watch you die on the street before uttering a single word to you." Alice said rather bitterly.

Sora raised an eyebrow at the response. Never had he heard Alice talk in such a way. She was always so kind and soft spoken.

"But if it makes you feel better," Alice turned sharply into an alley. "No one in their right mind would come down here with all of us here."

Alice traveled farther into the alley before stopping abruptly to lean against the soot covered wall.

"After our little adventure four years ago I told my family what had happened to me. How the Darkness was destroying all of the world's. The Heartless killing and stealing hearts also how I lost mine." Alice crossed her arms over her chest, a deep frown on her face.

"They didn't believe me, claiming that I had gone mad. So they sent me to the horrid Doctor Angus Bumbly. He told me that none of that had ever happened and that I needed to forget everything. But I refused to listen to him."

She took a deep sigh before continuing on with her tale.

"Then one night I heard someone in the house. I wanted to go to my parents and let them know but I was so scared. So I stayed in bed. Next thing I know I see someone passing my room and going into my sister's room, I heard her cries but I did nothing."

Alice looked down as if ashamed by her lack of action to help her little sister.

"Eventually he came out, I think he knew that I saw it was him because soon after he left the house was on fire. I was able to escape but the rest of my family was not so lucky. They all perished in the fire."

She grinned in an almost sadistic manner.

"But now I know that it was the Doctor that hurt my sister and killed my family. Now he is the one that is destroying my Wonderland. He is the one that needs to be stopped."

Sora had no idea how to respond to such a story. When Alice starting her story he never thought something like that would come out. He never knew that Alice had a family that would turn their backs on her so quickly.

"Well I've told you everything that has happened now what are your plans." Alice said, impatient that no one was saying anything.

"Oh uh, right. Well if your doctor is behind everything then we will need to figure out how to stop him. And then reverse all the damage that he has caused Wonderland." Sora said.

"I already know how to stop him." Alice said, that wicked grin returned.

"And how is that?" Kairi asked.

"I'm going to kill him."

That rocked the three. Was a Princess of Hearts able to keep her status as a Princess if she was planning to kill someone? Let alone kill someone!

Sora stepped closer to Alice,

"Look Alice I don't think that would be the best way to handle this. I'm sure that we can figure something else out."

Alice shook her head. Too much in her life had changed and changed her. She was no longer a meek child, she had seen and dealt with too much to keep that innocent outlook on the world.

"I'm sorry Sora, but he is a wicked and evil man who needs to be stopped before he harms anyone else." Alice said walked away from them. "No one else will suffer at his hands any longer. I need to do this. For my sister."

With determination set firmly in her heart she ran from the group.

"Alice!" Sora shouted before they chased after her. Alice had the upper hand though. They had never been to this world before and didn't know their way around. It wasn't long before they lost sight of her.

"I guess we are back to square one…" Kairi said her chest heaving, shoulders sagging in defeat.

The question that weighed heavy on Sora's mind was what would become of Alice if she would succeed in her quest to kill the doctor. Would they lose a Princess due to the Heartless, or would it be Alice causing her own undoing?

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Thanks for reading and please leave a review!


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